Definition of "downshift"

A change of direction or a movement downwards.  examples

A reduction in quality or quantity.  examples

A change in career or lifestyle to one which is not as well paid but less stressful and more personally rewarding.  examples

(automotive, cycling) A shift of a transmission into a lower gear, as dictated by heavier load on the engine, as for example when climbing a hill or strongly accelerating.  quotations  examples

(transitive)

1. To reduce (something) in quality or quantity (as effect, scope, speed, etc.)  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • But in this variation on Superbad's wild night of transgression, downshifting the age of the protagonists from teen to tween actually only enhances the stealth, wide-eyed innocence that secretly drives this genre of pre-college hedonism.

     2019 August 14, A. A. Dowd, “Good Boys Puts a Tween Spin on the R-rated Teen Comedy, to Mostly Funny Effect”, in The A.V. Club‎, archived from the original on 4 March 2021

2. To change (one's career or lifestyle) to one which is not as well paid but less stressful and more personally rewarding.  examples

3. (automotive, cycling) To shift (a car or bicycle) into a lower gear.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • He brought the car to a stop before the bridge, downshifted and then put her at the road again in a rising disciplined snarl along the N.6 to Cannes.

     a. 1962, Ernest Hemingway, chapter 27, in The Garden of Eden, New York, N.Y.: Charles Scribner’s Sons, published 1986, page 229

(intransitive)

1. To function at a lower rate; to slacken.  examples

2. To change one's career or lifestyle to one which is not as well paid but less stressful and more personally rewarding.  examples

3. (automotive, cycling) To shift a transmission into a lower gear.  examples