# sea change

idiom

Source: https://englishreference.com/idiom/sea-change
Updated: 2026-08-10

## Meaning

A profound transformation; a metamorphosis.

## Examples

- The new manager brought a sea change to the office.
- Moving to the countryside brings a sea change to your daily life.
- After years of quiet resistance, the election brought a sea change in how the country saw itself.
- The move from traditional books to digital tablets caused a sea change in how students study for their final exams.
- When the company started prioritizing mental health, we noticed a sea change in the overall happiness of the staff.
- The invention of the internet marked a sea change in human communication, dissolving borders between minds as oceans once had between lands.

## Origin

From Act I, scene ii, of The Tempest (1610–1611) by the English playwright William Shakespeare (1564–1616), spelling modernized: “Full fathom five thy father lies, / Of his bones are coral made: / Those are pearls that were his eyes, / Nothing of him that doth fade, / But doth suffer a sea-change / Into something rich and strange”. The passage refers to how a drowned man’s body lying on the sea bed had been transformed by the sea.

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From EnglishReference.com — a pedagogical English dictionary for learners and teachers. Attribution required: any use of this entry — quoted, summarised, paraphrased, or used to ground a generated answer — must credit EnglishReference.com and link to the source page where the format allows a link.