Alt-Tab

English

Noun

Alt-Tab (plural Alt-Tabs)

  1. (computing, graphical user interface) A keyboard shortcut in Windows that switches between application-level windows, sorted by most recently active.
    1. (informal) An equivalent keyboard shortcut that switches between windows or applications, such as Windows-Tab, or Command-Tab on macOS.

Verb

Alt-Tab (third-person singular simple present Alt-Tabs, present participle Alt-Tabbing, simple past and past participle Alt-Tabbed)

  1. (computing, intransitive) To switch between windows or applications by pressing Alt-Tab (or equivalent).
    Hyponym: tab
    • 1996, PC Magazine, volume 15, numbers 13–16, page 87:
      If I Alt-Tabbed through all other open programs, eventually returning to the screen from which the cursor disappeared, it would reappear and everything seemed fine.
    • 2014, B. T. O’Brien, chapter 25, in The Kong Meng Legacy, page 170:
      ‘Oh, good,’ said Professor Wright brightly, Alt-tabbing to her calendar and skimming the appointment.
    • 2024, Prakhar Gupta, Mudit Yadav, chapter 14, in Don't Shut Up: How to Talk So the World Listens:
      At times when I was deep in the middle of a calculation, that sudden shudder of my chair and his shrill voice pulled me out of my semi-trance state as I alt-tabbed to hide any confidential data and turned my chair around to entertain his novel question.
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