seismic shift
- noun
- /ˈsaɪzmɪk ʃɪft/
- The company's new strategy represents a seismic shift in how it approaches customer service.
I mean, there is there's a true seismic shift going on right now.
- I mean, there is there's a true seismic shift going on right now.
- He says it's clear that the market is experiencing a seismic shift, and we need to react accordingly.
- I mean, there's such a seismic shift in the ability to distribute, you know, your own work, whether through digital downloads or hard copies.
- I'm good, you know, and just, it's such a, it's a seismic shift to think about how I what's the first thing you thought?
- And then you have two years where there's no inertia, there's no movement at all and, and everything then and at the same time a seismic shift.
Examples
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Morning is here to help investors profit handsomely from this seismic shift in the global economy.
Blog text (10) -
It can be a historic and seismic shift in our political landscape.
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As I said, it is time for a seismic shift in policy.
Blog text (29) -
It's time for a seismic shift in America.
Blog text (29) -
The boom in American natural gas production is causing a seismic shift in the entire American economy.
Blog text (21) -
There's been a seismic shift in your existence, and I'm responsible.
Fiction book (1997) -
Not just a small-scale evolution but a fundamental seismic shift.
Blog text (26) -
This blended wing aircraft is capable of causing a seismic shift in the airline industry greater than any other technology advanced before it.
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He says it's clear that the market is experiencing a seismic shift, and we need to react accordingly.
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According to the Women's Environment and Development Organization, the ICPD Programme represented "a seismic shift in the thinking on health and population policies."
Academic text (1999)
Synonyms
A sudden big change or increase
A big, lasting difference in the way people think or do things
A sudden major change that shocks and upsets a group or system
A quick move from one state to another
A very big change in a field like business or public opinion
A sudden change in plan or way of doing things to improve results
Antonyms
How Dramatic
Surface Forms
Morphology
The phrase combines 'seismic' (earthquake-related) with 'shift' (change), so the meaning 'a very large or sudden change' is a straightforward metaphorical extension of the literal parts. Because understanding requires mapping the earthquake sense onto the idea of change (a common cross-linguistic metaphor) it is predictable but still metaphorical rather than strictly compositional.
Etymology
The phrase seismic shift comes from earthquakes: seismic means the shaking of the ground and shift is a sudden movement of land. So it is used to describe 'a sudden, big change' in ideas, politics, or business.