sea change
- a striking change, as in appearance, often for the better.
- any major transformation or alteration.
- 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
Despite the hard work of women like Fonda, Archer said, there had been no sea-change in attitudes within the industry.
Some 500 miles off the tip of India, the Maldives have gone through a sea-change since 2008, when Nasheed was sworn in.
Historical Examples
It was typical of the sea-change my whole being had undergone.
The RetrospectAda Cambridge
Like all the rest of us, he, too, had suffered his sea-change and was the better and bigger man for it.
Pirates' HopeFrancis Lynde
But as soon as he had reached the door his manner suffered a sea-change.
Cleg Kelly, Arab of the CityS. R. (Samuel Rutherford) Crockett
But doth suffer a sea-change Into something rich and strange.
Daisy's NecklaceThomas Bailey Aldrich
Even the deepening twilight can not disguise the evidences of a terrible “sea-change.”
Sword and GownGeorge A. Lawrence
sea change
- 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
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