shift – English verb conjugation

Nominal Forms

Infinitive: to shift
Participle: shifted
Gerund: shifting

Cognates

See the 4 cognates of shift

Indicative

Subjunctive

Conditional

Imperative

you	shift
we	Let's shift
you	shift

Indicative

Conditional

Synonyms & Antonyms

Synonyms

to change, swap

switch

to move from one place to another

move

to dispose of

junk

to hurry

rush

to engage in sexual petting

fondle

to do things quickly and impatiently

fly, get a move on, haul, haul ass, haul one's ashes, hie, hump it, hurry, hustle, make tracks, move it, rush, scream, swap, vamoose

to throw away as useless

86, bin, can, cast away, chuck, chuck away, chuck out, discard, dispose of, ditch, dump, get rid of, jettison, junk, scrap, throw away, throw out, toss, trash

to replace something with something else

commute, counterchange, exchange, interchange, replace, substitute, swap, switch, transpose

to change position from one place to another

budge, interchange, move, rearrange, redistribute, relocate, stir, transfer, travel

to touch someone lovingly

canoodle, caress, chuckle, coax, cosset, dally, dandle, dawt, faddle, feel up, fond, fondle, grabble, grope, nantle, pet, pettle, smuggle, tiddle, touch up

manage

do, fare, make-do

move

slip, budge, displace, stir, turn, change, fault, remove

Antonyms

manage

mismanage, fail, bungle, blunder

move

halt, fix, arrest, cease

Additional Information

Phrasal Verbs

Etymology

1. O.E. sciftan "arrange, divide," related to sceadan "divide, separate" (see shed (v.)), from P.Gmc. *skiftanan (cf. O.N. skipta "to divide, change, separate," O.Fris. skifta "to decide, determine, test," Du. schiften "to divide, turn," Ger. schichten "to classify," Schicht "shift"). Sense of "change" appeared c.1250; that of "move, transfer" is c.1375; that of "manage to get along" is first attested 1513, in phrase shift for oneself, and yielded shiftless in the modern sense (1584).
2. The noun is from Middle English schyft, shyffte. Cognate with German Schicht (“layer, shift”).
3. The verb is from Middle English schiften, from Old English sċiftan (“to divide, separate into shares; appoint, ordain; arrange, organise”), from Proto-Germanic *skiftijaną, *skiptijaną, from earlier *skipatjaną (“to organise, put in order”), from Proto-Indo-European *skeyb- (“to separate, divide, part”), from Proto-Indo-European *skey- (“to cut, divide, separate, part”). Cognate with Scots schift, skift (“to shift”), West Frisian skifte, skiftsje (“to sort”), Dutch schiften (“to sort, screen, winnow, part”), German schichten (“to stack, layer”), Swedish skifta (“to shift, change, exchange, vary”), Norwegian skifte (“to shift”), Icelandic skipta (“to switch”). See ship. See: Middle English 'schiften', Proto-Germanic '*skiftijaną', Scots 'schift', Dutch 'schiften', German, old spelling 'schichten', Swedish 'skifta', Icelandic 'skipta'.

Verbs referencing "shift"

German, old spelling schichten.

Sample Sentences