sea-change

sea-change (plural sea-changes)

1. 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.