sea change

noun

1

archaic : a change brought about by the sea

2

: a marked change : transformation

a sea change in public policy

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

Recent Examples on the Web

The 2010 law is more popular than ever, a sea change from 15 years ago, when Americans were more evenly divided on the law. —Sam Gringlas, NPR, 17 Dec. 2025

Finally, the shift may result in sea changes on a variety of other issues, as well. —Brian Winter, Foreign Affairs, 16 Dec. 2025

Thanks to widespread education and awareness campaigns, athletes have benefited from a sea change in how brain injuries are recognized and treated. —Javier Cárdenas, Fortune, 12 Dec. 2025

To go from a family consisting of a cousin to the present-day slew was a sea change, calling for a new way of dealing with Christmas giving. —CBS News, 5 Dec. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1612, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for sea change

• arrange
• derange
• estrange
• exchange
• midrange
• grange
• mange
• range
• strange
• interchange
• rearrange

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