Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A change caused by the sea.
  • noun A marked transformation.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun idiomatic A profound transformation.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a profound transformation

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Shakespeare's The Tempest, 1, ii.

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Examples

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Comments

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  • Full fathom five thy father lies;

    Of his bones are coral made;

    Those are pearls that were his eyes;

    Nothing of him that does fade,

    But doth suffer a sea-change

    Into something rich and strange.

    from The Tempest by William Shakespeare

    December 4, 2007

  • Lovely citation, thanks vpl.

    December 4, 2007

  • "A profound transformation." --WordNet

    October 20, 2009

  • But, but... that would surely be a deep sea change.

    October 20, 2009

  • sweet tooth fairy!

    October 20, 2009

  • Hah! So 'tis, John!

    October 20, 2009