sea change
noun
Did you know?
In The Tempest, William Shakespeare’s final play, sea change refers to a change brought about by the sea: the sprite Ariel, who aims to make Ferdinand believe that his father the king has perished in a shipwreck, sings within earshot of the prince, “Full fathom five thy father lies...; / Nothing of him that doth fade / But doth suffer a sea-change / into something rich and strange.” This is the original, now-archaic meaning of sea change. Today the term is used for a distinctive change or transformation. Long after sea change gained this figurative meaning, however, writers continued to allude to Shakespeare’s literal one; Charles Dickens, Henry David Thoreau, and P.G. Wodehouse all used the term as an object of the verb suffer, but now a sea change is just as likely to be undergone or experienced.
Examples of sea change in a Sentence
Jeff Gluck, New York Times, 9 Feb. 2026
Perhaps the most important is the sea change in the regulatory environment for cryptos.
—Rafael Nam, NPR, 7 Feb. 2026
If mountain properties in the Alps were once treated as vacation homes, locked up and left at the end of the winter season, there’s since been something of a 21st-century sea change.
—Lysanne Currie, Forbes.com, 29 Jan. 2026
Despite the turmoil, there was hope about the future of the country—a sea change that suggested a newness and potential.
—Diana Arterian, Literary Hub, 15 Jan. 2026
See All Example Sentences for sea change
Cite this Entry
“Sea change.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/sea%20change. Accessed 10 Feb. 2026.
Copy Citation
