"switch up" meaning in English

See switch up in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Verb

Forms: switches up [present, singular, third-person], switching up [participle, present], switched up [participle, past], switched up [past]
Head templates: {{en-verb|*}} switch up (third-person singular simple present switches up, present participle switching up, simple past and past participle switched up)
  1. (intransitive, slang) To change, usually in regards to how one feels, thinks, or behaves. Tags: intransitive, slang Translations (Translations): ir cambiándolo (english: switch it up) (Spanish)
    Sense id: en-switch_up-en-verb-BGVk1p7E Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, English phrasal verbs formed with "up", Entries with translation boxes, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries, Terms with Spanish translations Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 92 8 Disambiguation of English phrasal verbs formed with "up": 83 17 Disambiguation of Entries with translation boxes: 79 21 Disambiguation of Pages with 1 entry: 90 10 Disambiguation of Pages with entries: 92 8 Disambiguation of Terms with Spanish translations: 84 16 Disambiguation of 'Translations': 89 11
  2. (intransitive, slang) To malfunction. Tags: intransitive, slang
    Sense id: en-switch_up-en-verb--bBZqbm3

Inflected forms

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "switches up",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "switching up",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "switched up",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "switched up",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "*"
      },
      "expansion": "switch up (third-person singular simple present switches up, present participle switching up, simple past and past participle switched up)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "92 8",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "83 17",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English phrasal verbs formed with \"up\"",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "79 21",
          "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": "92 8",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "84 16",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Spanish translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              12,
              21
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2011, Lauran B. Webb, Watching and Waiting, page 81:",
          "text": "People will switch up on you in the middle of the stream and just as soon as you turn your back they will stab you in it.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              63,
              74
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2013, Jamila T. Davis, She's All Caught Up:",
          "text": "“I don't know about you anymore. Since you got a boyfriend you switched up,” April said.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To change, usually in regards to how one feels, thinks, or behaves."
      ],
      "id": "en-switch_up-en-verb-BGVk1p7E",
      "links": [
        [
          "change",
          "change"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(intransitive, slang) To change, usually in regards to how one feels, thinks, or behaves."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "intransitive",
        "slang"
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "_dis1": "89 11",
          "code": "es",
          "english": "switch it up",
          "lang": "Spanish",
          "lang_code": "es",
          "sense": "Translations",
          "translation": "switch it up",
          "word": "ir cambiándolo"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [],
      "glosses": [
        "To malfunction."
      ],
      "id": "en-switch_up-en-verb--bBZqbm3",
      "links": [
        [
          "malfunction",
          "malfunction"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(intransitive, slang) To malfunction."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "intransitive",
        "slang"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "switch up"
}
{
  "categories": [
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English lemmas",
    "English multiword terms",
    "English phrasal verbs",
    "English phrasal verbs formed with \"up\"",
    "English verbs",
    "Entries with translation boxes",
    "Pages with 1 entry",
    "Pages with entries",
    "Terms with Spanish translations",
    "Translation table header lacks gloss"
  ],
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "switches up",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "switching up",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "switched up",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "switched up",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "*"
      },
      "expansion": "switch up (third-person singular simple present switches up, present participle switching up, simple past and past participle switched up)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English intransitive verbs",
        "English slang",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "Quotation templates to be cleaned"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              12,
              21
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2011, Lauran B. Webb, Watching and Waiting, page 81:",
          "text": "People will switch up on you in the middle of the stream and just as soon as you turn your back they will stab you in it.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              63,
              74
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2013, Jamila T. Davis, She's All Caught Up:",
          "text": "“I don't know about you anymore. Since you got a boyfriend you switched up,” April said.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To change, usually in regards to how one feels, thinks, or behaves."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "change",
          "change"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(intransitive, slang) To change, usually in regards to how one feels, thinks, or behaves."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "intransitive",
        "slang"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English intransitive verbs",
        "English slang"
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To malfunction."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "malfunction",
          "malfunction"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(intransitive, slang) To malfunction."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "intransitive",
        "slang"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "es",
      "english": "switch it up",
      "lang": "Spanish",
      "lang_code": "es",
      "sense": "Translations",
      "translation": "switch it up",
      "word": "ir cambiándolo"
    }
  ],
  "word": "switch up"
}

Download raw JSONL data for switch up meaning in English (2.1kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2026-01-16 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2026-01-01 using wiktextract (d1270d2 and 9905b1f). 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.