Skip to main content
Glite Dictionary
✈️ A journey 🤦 To make stumble 🌈 An intense experience 🌈 To hallucinate 😳 A mistake 🔌 To activate device 🔌 A switch device ✈️ To travel 🤦 A stumble
to trip

to trip

36 6.5
To make a switch or device start working by turning it on
  • verb
  • /trɪp/
translation icon : disparar
  • To avoid accidents, make sure to trip the alarm when you detect any smoke.
  • trip the shutter

So it would trip OCP shut down.

Autoplay Next

Examples

  • The safety mechanism will trip if the temperature exceeds the safe limit.

  • If the pressure gets too high, the valve will automatically trip and release the pressure.

  • It's designed to trip the brakes on any train going over a certain speed.

    Play Dirty (2025)

  • You could trip a silent alarm.

    Dangerous Curves (1988)

  • A magnetic alarm that trips when the door opens.

    Robot & Frank (2012)

  • Long before the automatic coffee maker had a chance to trip on, the phone started ringing.

    Fiction book (1990)

  • We tripped the alarm.

    Super Mario Bros. (1993)

  • Emergency circuit breakers tripped automatically, desperately shunting the electrical load to secondary 230-kV lines.

    Fiction book (1996)

Synonyms

to activate
vsto trip
715 3.6

To make a machine, system, or account start working

stresses operating a physical mechanism often via a control action
to trigger
vsto trip
422 4.2

To cause something to start or happen

is about making a mechanism operate often by activating a control
to spark
vsto trip
154 3.4

To cause something to start, often an idea or strong feeling

is more about operating a device than provoking sudden reactions
to set off
vsto trip
131 3.1

To cause something to start or happen

is narrower, referring specifically to making mechanisms or devices work
to switch
vsto trip
123 1.0

To make a machine or light start working

focuses on activating physical mechanisms rather than any abstract start
to throw
vsto trip
83 6.1

To move a switch or lever to make a machine work

emphasizes causing mechanical operation rather than general event starts
to touch off
vsto trip
  • US
15 7.4

Make an event or strong reaction start suddenly

concerns making mechanisms operate rather than provoking large sudden events
to spark off
vsto trip
  • Informal
1 3.9

To cause a sudden event or strong reaction to begin

is mainly about causing mechanical operation rather than starting events
to trigger off
vsto trip
  • UK
1 5.1

To cause something to start suddenly

is used for making mechanisms operate, not only sudden forceful starts
to actuate
vsto trip
  • Specialized
1 7.3

To make a machine start working

is the broader everyday sense of causing a mechanism to operate

Idioms

on a trip
44 1.0

Traveling away from home to visit another place for holiday or work

to trip over one's own feet
  • Informal
1 6.8

To stumble or fall because you are clumsy

to trip the light fantastic
  • Archaic
1 9.9

Dance in a lively, graceful way to music

trip to the woodshed
  • Informal
1 9.9

A strong private scolding for someone who did something wrong

to trip the light fantastic toe
  • Archaic
9.9

To dance in a lively, elegant way to music

Phrasal Verbs

to trip over
49 1.9

Lose your balance when your foot hits or catches on something while walking

to trip up
27 4.9

Make a mistake or cause someone else to make one

to cancel trip
12 2.0

Decide not to go on a planned journey because of a problem

to trip out
  • NSFW
3 9.8

Feel strange and see or hear things after taking drugs

to trip out
  • Informal
1 8.6

Become very upset or excited and act confused suddenly

Compounds

field trip
95 1.0

An organized visit by students to learn outside the classroom

round trip
  • US
46 1.6

A journey to a place and back to where you started

guilt trip
  • Informal
13 4.9

A feeling of guilt someone gives you to make you do something

quick trip
11 1.4

A short journey to a place and back

power trip
  • Offensive
9 7.8

Wanting to feel important by being strict or mean to others

round-trip ticket
  • US
8 2.1

A ticket that lets you travel to a place and back

ego trip
  • Informal
5 7.4

An action you do to make yourself feel more important

trip wire
3 6.1

A low wire that makes a trap, alarm, or camera go off when someone walks into it

pleasure trip
1 3.0

A journey taken to enjoy yourself rather than for work

round trip
  • Specialized
1 3.9

The time it takes for data to go and come back over a network

scouting trip
  • US
1 3.4

A short trip to find out about an area

head trip
  • Informal
1 8.7

An intense mental experience that makes you think deeply or feel strong emotions

the highlight of the trip
1 2.1

The best part of a trip that people remember most

ocean trip
1 1.4

A journey across the ocean by ship or boat

trip to Xanadu
  • Literature
1 9.9

A journey to a perfect, beautiful place in your dreams

spontaneous trip
1 3.9

A sudden journey you make without planning

adventurous trip
3.5

A journey that includes exciting activities and some risk

round-trip light time
  • Specialized
9.6

The time it takes for a light signal to travel to a spacecraft or planet and back

trip line
  • Archaic
9.1

A thin rope used in logging to free a hook on a log from a safe distance

trip wire
  • Jargon
8.4

A small military force placed to make other forces respond if it is attacked

trip-up
6.5

A small mistake that causes embarrassment or trouble

How Forceful

to detonate
192 6.5
to trigger
422 4.2
to trip
36 6.5
press
11 1.3
tap
66 1.0

Surface Forms

trip infinitive
tripped past
tripped past participle
tripping present participle
trips third person singular

Etymology

Trip (to cause a device to operate) comes from the action 'to trip' meaning to set something moving or to release it quickly, much like you 'trip' a switch. So to trip a breaker or alarm is to make it activate.