Noun
sea-change (plural sea-changes)
- Alternative form of sea change
1869 December 4, “Submarine Warfare”, in The United States Army and Navy Journal and Gazette of the Regular and Volunteer Forces, volume VII, number 16, New York, N.Y.: Army and Navy Journal, →OCLC, page 237, column 1:Assuredly the fine old North Carolinan [William Alexander Graham], who has meanwhile himself gone under politically, as little anticipated while penning this sententious answer the "sea-change" as the sectional one which was to come after him. A "sea-change" has indeed transpired.
1889 August, “Books of the Month”, in The Atlantic Monthly: A Magazine of Literature, Science, Art, and Politics, volume LXIV, number CCCLXXXII, Boston, Mass., New York, N.Y.: Houghton, Mifflin and Company […], →OCLC, page 288, column 2:Is it possible that our sense of humor has already undergone a sea-change? […] [T]he book as a whole seems strangely antiquated.
1894 December, Helen Marshall North, “The Charm of Variety in Life”, in Theodore L. Flood, editor, The Chautauquan […], volume XI (New Series; volume XX overall), number 3, Meadville, Pa.: The T. L. Flood Publishing House, →OCLC, page 340, column 2:There are other worlds than ours, and we never again return to the old place, because we have suffered not only a sea-change but a soul-change.
2003, Vince Lombardi, Jr., “Think Big Picture”, in The Lombardi Rules: 26 Lessons from Vince Lombardi, the World’s Greatest Coach (McGraw-Hill Professional Education), McGraw-Hill, →ISBN, page 10:Don't be swayed by minor setbacks: Don't confuse minor shifts with sea-changes. A bump in the road can—and should—be navigated without making major route changes.