sea change
19
6.3
- noun
- /siː tʃeɪndʒ/
- The third title, Electronic Resources Forum, reflected the sea change in the program's purpose.
- undergo a sea change
- a sea change in attitude
- represents a sea change
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Watch on YouTubeAnd kind of there's been a profound sea change and shift in how that country works.
- And kind of there's been a profound sea change and shift in how that country works.
- And it was a sea change for me.
- Like that's the sea change that is underway will not and cannot be undone.
- But the big sea change that can move the mobility rate higher is really now remote work.
- But, you know, we have seen a sea change in antitrust enforcement, at least on the Democratic side.
- The burden of proof is on the military now to prove that these things aren't extraterrestrial, and that's a sea change.
- And you have this sea change in the contents of consciousness.
- So I think we're going to see a big a sea change with these new treatments.
- That just captures the imagination of everybody, you know, and I think that would, you know, be like a sea change and how we all perceive the sport.
Examples
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The technological advancements have led to a sea change in the way we communicate.
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Progress has not been 100%, but there's been a sea change in attitudes toward minorities.
Blog text (9) -
This is a political sea change happening and no one quite knows where it's going yet.
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So, you know, we maybe are starting to see the beginning of a sea change happening there.
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But did this letter signal some sort of sea change in big tech?
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At the same time, a sea change has taken place in culture and philosophy.
Academic text (1998) -
Career progress has been complicated by the sea change in the industry.
Academic text (1994) -
But he failed to account for a sea change taking place in archaeology.
Academic text (2007) -
And this is a sea change that I think tells us a lot about what happened when feminism stopped putting women first.
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President Clinton cited a "sea change in public attitude" (Gest 1993, 6).
Academic text (1995)
Synonyms
∞
1.1
A time when something becomes different
241
3.7
A complete change in form or appearance, for example a caterpillar becoming a butterfly
3
6.0
A very large and sudden change in ideas, beliefs, or ways of doing things
1
6.8
A very big change in a field like business or public opinion
How Profound
Surface Forms
Morphology
The headword 'change' gives the general sense of alteration while 'sea' contributes a metaphorical sense of vastness or scale, so a learner could infer that the phrase denotes a large or significant change. However, the specific nuance of a profound, notable transformation is idiomatic and historically rooted, so a B1 learner who only knows the literal words may not reliably derive the exact meaning.
Etymology
Sea change comes from a poem by Shakespeare where the sea seems to change a body lost at sea into something new and strange. So now sea change means a big, deep 'change' in the way things are.