shift

1 an action planned or taken to achieve a desired result desperate shifts to stave off financial disaster Synonyms expedient, means, move, measure, stepRelated Words act, action, deed, doing, feat, thing; course, procedure, proceeding, process; accomplishment, achievement, attainment, coup, exploit, success, triumph; activity, affair, business, dealing, enterprise, event; attempt, crack, endeavor, essay, fling, go, initiative, operation, pass, shot, stab, trial, try, undertaking, whack; effort, exertion, labor, pains, trouble, while, work; project, proposal, proposition; makeshift, resort, resource, stopgap; countermeasure, countermove, counterstep

2 the act or an instance of changing position made a small shift to the left to make more room on the bench Synonyms motion, move, movement, shifting, stir, stirringRelated Words dislocation, migration, relocation; locomotion, mobility, motility, motivity; fiddling, fidgeting, squirm, squirming, twitching, wriggling, writhing; flailing, flapping, wavingNear Antonyms immobility; inertia, inertness, stillness; cessation, discontinuance, ending, expiration, finish, halt, lapse, pause, shutdown, shutoff, stop, stoppage, surcease, terminationAntonyms motionlessness

1 to change the place or position of he shifted the vase closer to the wall so that it wouldn't get knocked over Synonyms budge, dislocate, displace, disturb, relocate, remove, reposition, move, transfer, transposeRelated Words bear, carry, cart, convey, drive, haul, lug, tote, transmit, transplant, transport; replace, supersede, supplant; alter, make over, modify, redo, refashion, remake, remodel, revamp, revise, rework, varyNear Antonyms anchor, fix, freeze, moor, secure, set, stabilize; embed (also imbed), entrench (also intrench), implant, ingrain (also engrain), lodge, root

2 to change one's position she shifted uncomfortably in her seat throughout the interview Synonyms budge, locomote, move, stirRelated Words fiddle, fidget, jiggle, squiggle, squirm, toss, twitch, wiggle, wriggle, writhe; rouseNear Antonyms hang around, remain, stay, stick around, tarry; stabilizeAntonyms freeze, still

3 to pass from one form, state, or level to another she watched the aurora in fascination as its colors shifted from green to blue Synonyms fluctuate, mutate, change, snap, varyRelated Words metamorphose, morph, transmute; better, improve; deteriorate, worsen; turn around; seesaw, teeter, vacillate, waverAntonyms plateau, stabilize

4 to give up (something) and take something else in return my brother and I shifted seats just before takeoff so that he could sit by the window Synonyms commute, exchange, change, substitute, swap, switch, tradeRelated Words interchange; displace, replace, supersede; cede, hand over, surrender, yield; reciprocate

5 to meet one's day-to-day needs left the others to shift for themselves Synonyms cope, do, fare, get by, get on, make out, manage, get alongRelated Words carry on, contrive, scrape (by or through), scrounge; last, survive; eke out, scrape (out), squeeze, wrest, wring; afford, swingNear Antonyms collapse, fail, fall short, fizzle, flounder; decline, peter (out), slump, wane; give up