to flip the switch
11
3.5
- phrasal verb
- /flɪp ðə swɪtʃ/
:
encender
- Flip the switch!
- just flip the switch
- flip the switch on the light
- flip the switch now
If I stop you from flipping the switch, the light doesn't turn on.
- If I stop you from flipping the switch, the light doesn't turn on.
- And this is your chance for you to flip the switch to become that role model.
- Do you think those hardships were necessary to flip the switch?
- Then he has a crazy encounter, flips the switch.
- Success is your responsibility and change can take place in an instant when you decide to flip the switch.
- I'm building the boundaries and if you are willing to do that, you are able then to finally flip the switch.
- But I've really sort of flipped the switch on that now and said to myself, do I feel it?
- And one of the features was a double pane glass that you can just like flip the switch and like there's an opaque gas.
- And we take the food that we're worried about and we withdraw and then reintroduce off on, off on, you flip the switch.
Examples
-
And this is your chance for you to flip the switch to become that role model.
-
I'll flip the switch!
-
Come back into your body, turn the lights off, flip the switch, get your power back.
-
All you have to do when you placed it is flip the switch.
-
I wonder if they are waiting to flip the switch in the morning during the event.
Blog text (24) -
If you are willing to flip the switch, I'll see you next time.
-
We need to flip the switch, mix it up.
-
I decided, no matter what, tonight I would flip the switch on the bedside lamp.
Fiction book (1993) -
Flip the switch, and let the cauldron bubble.
-
Stella stood up, crossed the room, and flipped the switch for the overhead lights.
Synonyms
131
3.1
To cause something to start or happen
123
1.0
To make a machine or light start working
83
6.1
To move a switch or lever to make a machine work
32
1.6
To make a device like a light start working by pressing a button or moving a switch
26
3.2
To quickly show a feeling or quality to get a result
15
7.4
Make an event or strong reaction start suddenly
5
5.0
To change a device between on and off using a switch
1
5.1
To cause something to start suddenly
Antonyms
How Quickly
Surface Forms
Morphology
The primary sense 'to move a switch quickly to turn something on/off' is directly compositional from 'flip' (move quickly) + 'switch' (a device), so a B1 learner who knows the words will readily infer this meaning. The extended sense 'to change a situation suddenly' is a natural, transparent metaphorical extension of the literal action and is cross-linguistically common, so it remains largely inferable rather than idiomatic.
Etymology
The phrase flip the switch comes from the simple action of pushing a small switch: to flip a switch makes a light or machine suddenly come on. Because that action creates a quick, clear change, people use the phrase to mean 'to activate something quickly' or 'to change a situation suddenly'.