functional shift

noun

1. a change in the grammatical function of a word, as in the use of the noun input as a verb or the noun fun as an adjective.

Word History and Origins

Origin of functional shift¹

First recorded in 1940–45

Example Sentences

Shifting within mindful awareness to a focus on the body may involve a functional shift away from linguistic conceptual facts toward the nonverbal imagery and somatic sensations of the right hemisphere.

From Time

This functional shift, Sacks says, may hint that hallucinations of musical notation may spring from an entirely different brain pathway than other types of visual hallucinations – though we haven’t yet confirmed or denied this with any fMRI studies of patients who hallucinate musical notation.

From Scientific American