sea change

noun

|Updated on: 12 Jun 2018

Editor's Note: Did You Know?

Definition of sea change

1 archaic : a change brought about by the sea

2 : a marked change : transformation

a sea change in public policy

See sea change defined for English-language learners

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Recent Examples of sea change from the Web

The announcement is a sea change for Ethiopia, where the ruling EPRDF party has controlled almost every aspect of citizens’ lives, including the economy, rights and privacy since coming to power in 1991.

— matina stevis-gridneff, WSJ, "Ethiopia Opens Door to the World With Unprecedented Privatization Plan," 6 June 2018
But a generational sea change — both within the institution and in the culture at large — seems to have taken place.

— noreen malone, Daily Intelligencer, "The New Yorker Staff Wants to Unionize," 6 June 2018
As a result, America's longtime partners are starting to view Trump's move as a sea change in U.S. policy.

— heather long and steven mufson, chicagotribune.com, "Trump's trade moves threaten 70 years of global agreements," 2 June 2018
There appeared to be a sea change on the matter of a Cuban first lady after Díaz-Canel became president on April 19.

— mimi whitefield and nora gámez torres, miamiherald, "Cuba's first lady is no mystery but you would not know it from coverage in state media," 31 May 2018
The women’s remarkable statements — followed by similar claims in politics and business sectors — are a sea change in this highly traditional Islamic country where female honor killings, child brides and polygamy are commonplace.

— naila inayat, USA TODAY, "Pakistan confronts its Me Too movement — and backlash," 20 May 2018
So much of this had been building up for decades and this past year has obviously been – not quite a sea change – but this moment of revelation.

— katy steinmetz, Time, "Stitch Fix CEO Katrina Lake on Why Gender Matters In the Business World," 3 May 2018
South Korean officials and public began to worry more about the United States launching an attack than about Pyongyang, a remarkable sea change in opinion.

— heather souvaine horn, The New Republic, "Kim Jong Un’s canny strategy to confound Trump.," 16 May 2018
Their accessibility and effectiveness created a sea change in smile standards.

— barret wertz, GQ, "The Best Teeth-Whitening Products for Any Budget," 14 May 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'sea change.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Did You Know?

In Shakespeare's The Tempest, a sea-change is a change brought about by sea: Full fathom five thy father lies ... / Nothing of him that doth fade / But doth suffer a sea-change. This meaning is the original one, but it's now archaic. Long after sea change had gained its 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.