downshift

views updated May 17 2018

down·shift / ˈdounˌshift/ • v. [intr.] change to a lower gear in a motor vehicle or bicycle. ∎  slow down; slacken off: well before the country slipped into recession, business was downshifting. ∎  change a financially rewarding but stressful career or lifestyle for a less pressured and less highly paid but more fulfilling one: they want to downshift from full-time work.• n. a change to a lower gear in a motor vehicle or bicycle. ∎  a change in quality or quantity to a lesser or lower degree: the downshift of human position from the center of the cosmos. ∎  an instance of changing a financially rewarding but stressful career or lifestyle for a less pressured and less highly paid but more fulfilling one.