Switch Meaning
/swɪt͡ʃ/Definition, CEFR level B1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
nounA device to turn electric current on and off or direct its flow.
nounA change or exchange.
Sentence Examples
You must switch off the power before checking the circuit.
Lucy turned on the light switch.
CEFR Practice Quiz
Because the current plan was too expensive, she wanted to ____ to a cheaper one.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
Please remember to ____ off the lights before you leave the room to save energy and reduce our electricity bill today.
Word Origin & History
Perhaps from Middle Dutch swijch (“twig”), first attested in c. 1592. The mechanical device for altering the direction of something sense is first attested in c. 1797, pertaining to pivoted rails on minecart railways, which were once wooden.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"After many complications and sudden switches of career and identity for all […] they end up selling out for fame and money, and leave the boardwalk for good."
— 1985 December 7, Nicholas Deutsch, “Epstein on the Beach (review)”, in Gay Community News, volume 13, number 21, page 15:
"Wenger sent on Cesc Fabregas and Van Persie to try to finish Leeds off and with 14 minutes left the switch paid off as the Spaniard sent Bendtner away down the right and his wonderful curling cross was headed in by Van Persie at the far post."
— 2011 January 19, Jonathan Stevenson, “Leeds 1 - 3 Arsenal”, in BBC:
"This is a result of a switch from High Street to online retailing, requiring consumer goods to be delivered to the door from large-scale distribution parks that have sufficient traffic to justify a rail terminal."
— 2024 January 10, 'Industry Insider', “Success built on liberalisation and market freedom”, in RAIL, number 1000, page 69:
"Their mother would walk out into the yard and cut a switch from a tree and beat him—beat him, it seemed to Florence, until any other boy would have fallen down dead; […]"
— 1953, James Baldwin, “Florence's Prayer”, in Go Tell It on the Mountain (Penguin Classics), London: Penguin Books, published 2001, →ISBN:
""A proper switch is a slim, flexible branch off a tree or a bush. A switch applied to the buttocks stings fiercely. It may leave red marks or bruises, but it causes no lasting damage..""
— 2007, Jeffrey W. Hamilton, Raising Godly Children in a Wicked World, Lulu.com, page 15:
Explore More B1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
Because the current plan was too expensive, she wanted to ____ to a cheaper one.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
Please remember to ____ off the lights before you leave the room to save energy and reduce our electricity bill today.