"top gear" meaning in All languages combined

See top gear on Wiktionary

Noun [English]

Forms: top gears [plural]
Head templates: {{en-noun|~}} top gear (countable and uncountable, plural top gears)
  1. The highest gear that is available in a motor vehicle or car. Tags: countable, uncountable Synonyms: fifth gear, overdrive Coordinate_terms: second gear, third gear, fourth gear, angel gear, overdrive, neutral
    Sense id: en-top_gear-en-noun-lRsz4nsP Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, Entries with translation boxes, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 81 19 Disambiguation of Entries with translation boxes: 89 11 Disambiguation of Pages with 1 entry: 90 10 Disambiguation of Pages with entries: 91 9
  2. (figurative) The highest level of performance or activity. Tags: countable, figuratively, uncountable Synonyms: overdrive, full throttle
    Sense id: en-top_gear-en-noun-v9XUBggm

Inflected forms

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "top gears",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "~"
      },
      "expansion": "top gear (countable and uncountable, plural top gears)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "antonyms": [
        {
          "word": "granny gear"
        },
        {
          "word": "low gear"
        },
        {
          "word": "first gear"
        }
      ],
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "81 19",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "89 11",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Entries with translation boxes",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "90 10",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "91 9",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "coordinate_terms": [
        {
          "word": "second gear"
        },
        {
          "word": "third gear"
        },
        {
          "word": "fourth gear"
        },
        {
          "word": "angel gear"
        },
        {
          "word": "overdrive"
        },
        {
          "word": "neutral"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "Near-synonyms: (often synonymous) fifth gear, overdrive"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              23,
              31
            ]
          ],
          "text": "His Packard rarely saw top gear, because in the 1930s this county barely had any roads smooth and straight enough to use it on.",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              80,
              88
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2022 January 12, Benedict le Vay, “The heroes of Soham...”, in RAIL, number 948, page 42:",
          "text": "The Second World War was reaching fever pitch, with the entire Allied effort in top gear for the imminent invasion of Europe, while later that month buzz bombs would start falling on London.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "The highest gear that is available in a motor vehicle or car."
      ],
      "id": "en-top_gear-en-noun-lRsz4nsP",
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "fifth gear"
        },
        {
          "word": "overdrive"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "countable",
        "uncountable"
      ]
    },
    {
      "antonyms": [
        {
          "word": "low gear"
        }
      ],
      "categories": [],
      "examples": [
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              27,
              35
            ]
          ],
          "text": "Things really shifted into top gear once they found a new angel investor.",
          "type": "example"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "The highest level of performance or activity."
      ],
      "id": "en-top_gear-en-noun-v9XUBggm",
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(figurative) The highest level of performance or activity."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "overdrive"
        },
        {
          "word": "full throttle"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "countable",
        "figuratively",
        "uncountable"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "top gear"
}
{
  "categories": [
    "English countable nouns",
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English lemmas",
    "English multiword terms",
    "English nouns",
    "English uncountable nouns",
    "Entries with translation boxes",
    "Pages with 1 entry",
    "Pages with entries"
  ],
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "top gears",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "~"
      },
      "expansion": "top gear (countable and uncountable, plural top gears)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "antonyms": [
        {
          "word": "granny gear"
        },
        {
          "word": "low gear"
        },
        {
          "word": "first gear"
        }
      ],
      "categories": [
        "English terms with quotations",
        "English terms with usage examples"
      ],
      "coordinate_terms": [
        {
          "word": "second gear"
        },
        {
          "word": "third gear"
        },
        {
          "word": "fourth gear"
        },
        {
          "word": "angel gear"
        },
        {
          "word": "overdrive"
        },
        {
          "word": "neutral"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "Near-synonyms: (often synonymous) fifth gear, overdrive"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              23,
              31
            ]
          ],
          "text": "His Packard rarely saw top gear, because in the 1930s this county barely had any roads smooth and straight enough to use it on.",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              80,
              88
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2022 January 12, Benedict le Vay, “The heroes of Soham...”, in RAIL, number 948, page 42:",
          "text": "The Second World War was reaching fever pitch, with the entire Allied effort in top gear for the imminent invasion of Europe, while later that month buzz bombs would start falling on London.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "The highest gear that is available in a motor vehicle or car."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "fifth gear"
        },
        {
          "word": "overdrive"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "countable",
        "uncountable"
      ]
    },
    {
      "antonyms": [
        {
          "word": "low gear"
        }
      ],
      "categories": [
        "English terms with usage examples"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              27,
              35
            ]
          ],
          "text": "Things really shifted into top gear once they found a new angel investor.",
          "type": "example"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "The highest level of performance or activity."
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(figurative) The highest level of performance or activity."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "overdrive"
        },
        {
          "word": "full throttle"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "countable",
        "figuratively",
        "uncountable"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "top gear"
}

Download raw JSONL data for top gear meaning in All languages combined (2.1kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable All languages combined dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2026-10-03 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2026-09-02 using wiktextract (1a05e46 and e3d6d4e). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.