Phrase guide

fifth gear

noun · 1 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

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No pronunciation record was provided for this word.

1

noun

Meaning 1

The fifth of the gears of a transmission; in many motor vehicles built in the 1970s or later, it is the top gear, being the overdrive gear, although in the 21st century some vehicles have transmissions with yet more gears (e.g., 6, 7, 8), among both manual transmissions and automatic transmissions.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: fifth[Appendix:Glossary

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

No etymology was provided for this word.

Across languages

Translations

13 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Bulgarian: пе́та преда́вка (péta predávka) — the fifth gear of an engine
  • Danish: femte gear — the fifth gear of an engine
  • Finnish: viitonen — the fifth gear of an engine
  • Finnish: viitosvaihde — the fifth gear of an engine
  • German: fünfter Gang — the fifth gear of an engine
  • Greek: πέμπτη (pémpti) — the fifth gear of an engine
  • Interlingua: quinte velocitate — the fifth gear of an engine
  • Macedonian: петта брзина (petta brzina) — the fifth gear of an engine
  • Polish: piąty bieg — the fifth gear of an engine
  • Portuguese: quinta marcha — the fifth gear of an engine
  • Romanian: viteza a cincea — the fifth gear of an engine
  • Russian: пя́тая переда́ча (pjátaja peredáča) — the fifth gear of an engine
  • Swedish: femma — the fifth gear of an engine