gear to

gear to (someone or something)

1. To be suited to or have a focus on a particular audience or objective. The company has made it clear that their newest product is geared to tech-savvy professionals with disposable income to burn. The films are supposedly geared to kids, but they are full of really dark and scary imagery. A: "I know Ulysses isn't geared to the folks in a general college English class, but I want to have some Joyce on my syllabus." B: "Hmm, what a short story like Araby?"

2. To design something with a focus on a particular audience or objective. A noun or pronoun can be used between "gear" and "to." Make sure you gear this class to beginners. I'm going to gear my new sci-fi show more to female viewers. I use a planning system that is geared to helping me achieve all my goals for the year.

See also: gear, to

Farlex Dictionary of Idioms. © 2024 Farlex, Inc, all rights reserved.

gear something to someone or something

to cause something to match something else; to create or adapt something for a specific purpose. Tim geared his speech to his audience. The newspaper geared its language to a fourth-grade reading level.

See also: gear, to

McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs. © 2002 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.