sea change
noun
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In William Shakespeare's The Tempest, a sea change is a change brought about by the sea, as illustrated by the words of the sprite Ariel to Ferdinand, said to make the prince believe that his father has perished in a shipwreck: "Full fathom five thy father lies...; / Nothing of him that doth fade / But doth suffer a sea-change / into something rich and strange." This meaning of sea change is the original one, but it's now archaic. Long after sea change had gained its figurative meaning—that of any marked or permanent transformation—writers nonetheless 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
John C. Moritz, Austin American-Statesman, 6 Dec. 2024
In all, the kicking boom represents a sea change for professional football.
—Becky Sullivan, NPR, 20 Nov. 2024
These sea changes will be unsettling for friend and foe alike, but especially for longtime U.S. allies.
—Ned Temko, The Christian Science Monitor, 7 Nov. 2024
The big picture: In the last few years a sea change has occurred in how obesity is understood, with the focus shifting away from personal willpower toward seeing obesity as a disease.
—Mike Allen, Axios, 4 Oct. 2024
See all Example Sentences for sea change 
Dictionary Entries Near sea change
Cite this Entry
“Sea change.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/sea%20change. Accessed 22 Dec. 2024.
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