sea change
noun
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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
Tom Tapp, Deadline, 22 Oct. 2025
Jahdé Marley took note of this sea change.
—Osayi Endolyn, Bon Appetit Magazine, 22 Oct. 2025
That is a sea change that will have far-reaching implications.
—Isaac Chotiner, New Yorker, 9 Oct. 2025
Moving to Charlotte, in a country and a league that Smith had no experience in, marked a sea change in his career.
—Jacob Tanswell, New York Times, 1 Oct. 2025
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 26 Oct. 2025.
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