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sea change

See more synonyms for sea change on Thesaurus.com
noun
  1. a striking change, as in appearance, often for the better.
  2. any major transformation or alteration.
  3. a transformation brought about by the sea.
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Origin of sea change

First recorded in 1600–10
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for sea change

Contemporary Examples

Historical Examples

  • It was typical of the sea-change my whole being had undergone.

    The Retrospect

    Ada Cambridge

  • Like all the rest of us, he, too, had suffered his sea-change and was the better and bigger man for it.

    Pirates' Hope

    Francis Lynde

  • But as soon as he had reached the door his manner suffered a sea-change.

    Cleg Kelly, Arab of the City

    S. R. (Samuel Rutherford) Crockett

  • But doth suffer a sea-change Into something rich and strange.

    Daisy's Necklace

    Thomas Bailey Aldrich

  • Even the deepening twilight can not disguise the evidences of a terrible “sea-change.”

    Sword and Gown

    George A. Lawrence

British Dictionary definitions for sea change

sea change

noun
  1. a seemingly magical change, as brought about by the action of the sea
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Word Origin

coined by Shakespeare, in Ariel's song ``Full Fathom Five'' in The Tempest (1611)
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012