sea change

noun

Updated on: 18 Apr 2018

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

sea change was our Word of the Day on 10/25/2010. Hear the podcast!

Recent Examples of sea change from the Web

And that these hearings are the beginning of a real sea change in the relationship between the government and technology.

— Fox News, "Grassley and Coons on Zuckerberg's congressional testimony," 10 Apr. 2018
But there is no question that King’s death, just like his life, signaled a sea change in how politics operate in the United States.

— jenn m. jackson, Teen Vogue, "Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Died Because of Hatred. That Should Not Be Whitewashed," 4 Apr. 2018
This is not a result of some sea change in human psychology.

— nitsuh abebe, New York Times, "Why Have We Soured on the ‘Devil’s Advocate’?," 3 Apr. 2018
But to achieve genuine reform, with consumer rights receiving anything more than lip service, will require a sea change in policy making.

— david lazarus, latimes.com, "56 years later, Kennedy's call for a consumer bill of rights is forgotten under Trump," 15 Mar. 2018
Is this the beginning of a sea change or just the venting of intense emotion?

— james hohmann, Washington Post, "The Daily 202: Florida shooting aftermath shows a generation that’s more impressive than typically portrayed," 20 Feb. 2018
The frenetic pace of deal-making in the health-care sector in recent months underscores the emerging sea change in how Americans seek medical care.

— ezequiel minaya, WSJ, "Health-Care Firms Turn to Drugmaker Executives as Businesses Converge," 22 Mar. 2018
Now that Lena is catching major fire—at a time when TV show-runners and filmmakers of color, especially women of color, are getting the opportunity to tell their tales—there seems to be a sea change.

— jacqueline woodson, HWD, "Lena Waithe Is Changing the Game," 22 Mar. 2018
Possible sea change The flurry of concerns suggests this has the potential to become a turning point in public thought on a long-simmering issue.

— laurent belsie, The Christian Science Monitor, "Facebook uproar: Should personal data drive political ads?," 21 Mar. 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.