Meaning
A profound transformation in character, condition, policy or outlook. Means a major transformation, not merely any alteration. Hyphenation is optional in modern use. Regional use: Origin in English drama; now international English.
Origin
Ariel's song in The Tempest, written around 1610-11, imagines a drowned body suffering 'a sea-change into something rich and strange'. The change is literally worked by the sea and is complete rather than a small shift in weather or tide. Later figurative use retained the idea of deep transformation but detached it from death and the ocean.
Research Sources
References used to check this entry’s meaning, history, or documented forms.
Variants
- Sea-change
- Suffer a sea change
- Undergo a sea change
Usage Examples
- Remote work produced a sea change in the firm's approach to recruitment.
- Her second novel marks a sea change in tone and ambition.
- The ruling brought about a sea change in public access to the records.