upshift

verb

up·​shift ˈəp-ˌshift 

upshifted; upshifting; upshifts

intransitive verb

: to shift an automotive vehicle into a higher gear

upshift noun

Examples of upshift in a Sentence

She upshifted into fifth gear.

Recent Examples on the Web

Suddenly, a Rosemount team that appeared to be in cruise control had to upshift gears again. —Jace Frederick, Twin Cities, 5 June 2024

Sport mode brings an even more aggressive algorithm and a flat-out refusal to upshift into the tallest gears even when cruising. —Mike Duff, Car and Driver, 7 Aug. 2023

There was room to go faster, but the car refused to upshift into third gear and the engine was hitting its rev limiter well short of its 7000-rpm redline. —Csaba Csere, Car and Driver, 16 June 2023

But, as has been the case far too often, the GOP doesn’t exactly have a matrix in hand for when their leader should stand down or when to upshift. —Philip Elliott, Time, 17 Jan. 2023

There is little point in trying to reach the rev limiter, and in Drive the automatic gearbox always chooses to upshift well before the marked redline at 6000 rpm. —Mike Duff, Car and Driver, 5 Apr. 2022

The sequential gearbox will upshift with the accelerator floored, and the shift lights on the dash encourage the full use of the available rev range. —Mike Duff, Car and Driver, 1 June 2022

There's numbness in the steering, but the gearbox is clever enough to downshift under braking and upshift at redline. —Tony Quiroga, Car and Driver, 7 Feb. 2022

The automatic gearbox's tendency to upshift well short of the 6900-rpm redline seems to have little effect on the rate of acceleration. —Mike Duff, Car and Driver, 11 May 2022

Word History

First Known Use

1952, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for upshift

• adrift
• airlift
• facelift
• festschrift
• forklift
• gearshift
• makeshift
• redshift
• sealift
• snowdrift
• spendthrift
• clift