Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

fourth gear

Word Rarity Uncommon

Frequency: Zipf frequency 4.31 in modern English

Syllables: fourth gear
IPA

17

Scrabble Score

10

Letters

1

Syllables

9

Unique Chars

Meaning

noun

The fourth of the available gears in a transmission or other gearbox.

Countable; Uncountable

noun

A maximal level of effort.

Countable; Dated; Uncountable

Example Sentences

"During the seventies, Shashi Kapoor went into fourth gear in Bollywood, while Merchant and Ivory made a slew of films, many of which were not set in India."
"After all, he did the very same thing, pool and lunch, every Friday afternoon for five months—Friday perfect because it gave his cock a rest before the weekend, when it went into fourth gear."

Etymology

The figurative sense reflects that in some times and places, fourth gear was the highest gear that a car could achieve; compare French en quatrième vitesse.

Usage

Inflected Forms

fourth gears (plural)

Frequently Paired Words

downshift upshift low gear first gear second gear third gear fifth gear top gear

Synonyms

fourth top gear overdrive full throttle

Questions

What does fourth gear mean?: The fourth of the available gears in a transmission or other gearbox.
Where does fourth gear come from?: The figurative sense reflects that in some times and places, fourth gear was the highest gear that a car could achieve; compare French en quatrième vitesse.

How to pronounce fourth gear

Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “fourth gear”.
Read the phonetic spelling — Read the IPA spelling () so you know which sounds to aim for.
Play the audio — Click Play to hear reference audio for “fourth gear”.
Repeat and practice — Say “fourth gear” aloud, matching stress and vowels until it feels natural.