shifted

Definition of shiftednext
past tense of shift
1
2
3
as in changed
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 & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

4
as in exchanged
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 & Similar Words

5

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of shifted In an interview with Interesting Engineering at CES, Flywing representative Troye Qu said the company intentionally shifted focus away from cameras as passive recording tools. Aamir Khollam, Interesting Engineering, 9 Jan. 2026 Good briefly put the vehicle in reverse, then shifted into drive and hit the gas, with the wheels seemingly turned to the right instead of directly ahead toward Ross. Allison Gordon, CNN Money, 9 Jan. 2026 By requiring Dulce and her legal team to produce extraordinary volumes of proof to secure her release, the government has effectively shifted the burden onto United States citizens to affirmatively prove their citizenship while incarcerated. Mike Hellgren, CBS News, 8 Jan. 2026 California’s unemployment system was riddled with pandemic-era fraud, with billions lost due to outdated systems and weak safeguards—costs the state ultimately shifted onto employers and workers. Vince Fong, Oc Register, 8 Jan. 2026 Cold temperatures were expected when a pattern that brought several storms to the region from Christmas through the start of 2026 shifted to a dryer one. Rick Hurd, Mercury News, 8 Jan. 2026 Last year, Honda shifted 55,231 Passports, representing a 70% improvement over 2024’s figure of 32,527 units. Adam Ismail, The Drive, 8 Jan. 2026 Perspective shifted in this colorful underwater metaverse. Gisela Williams, Travel + Leisure, 8 Jan. 2026 Those results were buoyed in part by surging support from young voters and Hispanic voters, who shifted toward the right in 2024 after historically leaning toward the Democrats. Martha McHardy, MSNBC Newsweek, 6 Nov. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for shifted
Verb
  • Hodel eventually relocated to the Philippines, living there for the next four decades.
    Alex Gurley, PEOPLE, 15 Jan. 2026
  • Investigators believe Jacqueline’s body was kept in the basement of the condo for months before the family relocated to New Britain, the warrant affidavits said.
    Justin Muszynski, Hartford Courant, 15 Jan. 2026
Verb
  • In an interview with KSL in May 2025, Sha compared learning Braille to learning English when his family moved from Myanmar to the United States.
    Daniel S. Levine, PEOPLE, 13 Jan. 2026
  • Engineers carried out multiple trajectory adjustments as the spacecraft moved farther from Earth.
    Aamir Khollam, Interesting Engineering, 13 Jan. 2026
Verb
  • That changed in 2019, when the company secured permission to lock phones for 60 days to reduce fraud.
    Aamir Khollam, Interesting Engineering, 13 Jan. 2026
  • Yet, everything changed last week.
    Gabriela Vidal, CBS News, 13 Jan. 2026
Verb
  • The pair exchanged smiles and kisses as the accolade was engraved, while Chalamet also congratulated fellow winner Paul Thomas Anderson, who took home the Best Screenplay award for One Battle After Another.
    Clare Fisher, PEOPLE, 13 Jan. 2026
  • The filing includes text messages exchanged between the prosecutor and his teenager in the minutes after the shooting, which prosecutors argue underscore that lack of firsthand knowledge.
    Stepheny Price, FOXNews.com, 13 Jan. 2026
Verb
  • William offered some surprisingly candid answers about everything from his parents' divorce to how his children — Prince George, 12, Princess Charlotte, 10, and Prince Louis, 7 — coped with Kate Middleton's cancer diagnosis.
    Meredith Kile, PEOPLE, 7 Oct. 2025
  • As a teen growing up in an abusive household, Morgan coped daily with physical and emotional harm from her mother.
    Laura Schwab Reese, The Conversation, 2 Sep. 2025
Verb
  • Such spontaneous memorials are typically removed and their contents quietly disposed of.
    Oscar Holland, CNN Money, 22 Jan. 2026
  • He was removed from his car and taken away.
    Reg Chapman, CBS News, 22 Jan. 2026
Verb
  • The bonito’s body twitched until Yamasaki slid a thin metal wire down the column of its spinal cord, a second step called shinkei jime, which arrests its nervous system.
    Hannah Goldfield, New Yorker, 19 Jan. 2026
  • Their usefulness remains an open question At the back of a conference hall at the Mandalay Bay resort in Las Vegas, a humanoid robot twitched through a preprogrammed wave for a crowd of cell phone cameras—a classic scene of high spectacle and unclear utility at CES.
    Eric Sullivan, Scientific American, 6 Jan. 2026
Verb
  • However varied the path, the payoff at the top is substantial.
    Preston Fore, Fortune, 15 Jan. 2026
  • As a result, cargo volumes varied drastically by month at the Port of Long Beach and the Port of Los Angeles.
    Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, 13 Jan. 2026

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Cite this Entry

“Shifted.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/shifted. Accessed 23 Jan. 2026.

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