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
Chantal Da Silva, NBC News, 24 Mar. 2025
Santos says a sea change among those people will happen in other ways — possibly when a major modern telenovela is set during the time, attracting the genre’s audiences of tens of millions.
—Steven Zeitchik, The Hollywood Reporter, 27 Feb. 2025
To be sure, the very existence of a White House crypto summit, let alone a strategic reserve, represents a sea change for an industry that has long fought to gain mainstream acceptance.
—Rob Wile, NBC News, 7 Mar. 2025
In 2019, Van Gyn noted a sea change in women’s backcountry snowboarding.
—Michelle Bruton, Forbes, 7 Mar. 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 14 Apr. 2025.
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