change Hear it!

change Definition

change (c̸hānj)

transitive verb changed, chang′·ing

  1. to put or take (a thing) in place of something else; substitute for, replace with, or transfer to another of a similar kind to change one's clothes, to change jobs
  2. to give and receive reciprocally; exchange; switch let's change seats
    1. to cause to become different; alter; transform; convert success changed him
    2. to undergo a variation of leaves change color
  4. to give or receive the equivalent of (a coin or bank note) in currency of lower denominations or in foreign money
  5. to put a fresh, replacement covering, as a diaper or bedclothes, on

Etymology: ME changen < OFr changier < LL cambiare < L cambire, to exchange, barter < Celt (as in OIr camb) < IE base *kamb-, to bend, crook (> Welsh cam, Bret kamm, crooked)

intransitive verb

    1. to become different; alter; vary the scene changes
    2. to undergo alteration or replacement
  2. to pass from one phase to another, as the moon
  3. to become lower in range: said specif. of the male voice at puberty
  4. to leave one train, bus, etc. and board another
  5. to put on other clothes
  6. to make an exchange

noun

  1. the act or process of substitution, alteration, or variation
  2. absence of monotony; variety
  3. something that is or may be substituted; something of the same kind but new or fresh
  4. another set of clothes, esp. a fresh set to put on
    1. money returned as the difference between the price of something bought and the bill or coin of larger denomination given in payment
    2. a number of coins or bills whose total value equals a single larger coin or bill
    3. small coins
  6. a place where merchants meet to do business; exchange
  7. Bell Ringing any pattern or order in which the bells may be rung

change Idioms

change off

to take turns

ring the changes

  1. to ring a set of bells with all possible variations
  2. to do or say a thing in many and various ways

the change

Informal menopause

change Synonyms

change

n.

  1. The act or fact of altering

    alteration, variation, vicissitude, substitution, swerving, deviation, diversion, shuffling, difference, reconstruction, aberration, evolution, restyling, innovation, move, interchange, trade, switch, fluctuation, wavering, modulation, alternating, exchange, mutation, transformation, transmutation, modification, transition, metamorphosis, transfiguration, reshaping, adoption, transference, reworking, transmogrification, metamorphism, improvisation, revolution, conversion, regeneration, shifting, warping, remodeling, renovation, veering, transubstantiation, shift, reformation, revision, rearrangement, enlargement, renewal, removal, disguising, reversal, about-face, tampering, qualification, turning, metathesis, inflection, vacillation, resolution, metastasis, reorganization; see also variety 1.

    Antonyms constancy*, consistency*, permanence. *

  2. An alteration

    modification, correction, remodeling, switch, reformation, reconstruction, shift, difference, reform, conversion, changeover, transformation, tempering, revolution, rearrangement, adjustment, readjustment, reorganization, reshaping, renovation, realignment, redirection, reprogramming, variation, addition, refinement, advance, modulation, development, diversification, turn, turnover, enlargement, revision, qualification, distortion, compression, contraction, telescoping, widening, narrowing, lengthening, flattening, shortening, fitting, setting, adjusting, rounding, getting out of round, ovalization, squaring, getting out of whack*, ups and downs*; see also sense 1.

  3. Substitution

    switch, replacement, swap; see exchange 3.

  4. Variety

    diversity, novelty, variance; see difference 1, variety 1.

  5. Small coins

    pocket money, spending money, pin money, silver, small change, (small) coins, pennies, nickels, dimes, quarters, half dollars, chicken feed*; see also money 1.

change Synonyms

change

v.

  1. To make different

    vary, alter, modify, transform, convert, diversify, turn, modulate, transmute, transfigure, redo, metamorphose, disguise, restyle, revolutionize, reorganize, make over, do over, remake, recondition, remodel, reconvert, refashion, tailor, reform, renew, renovate, recast, revamp, remold, modernize, reconstruct, moderate, temper, adjust, adapt, accommodate, readjust, fine-tune, naturalize, transpose, invert, switch around, reverse, turn upside down, revise, correct, amend, edit, tamper with, make innovations, innovate, render different, translate, mutate, transmogrify, denature, transubstantiate, reshape, inflect, regenerate, improve, worsen, reduce, commute, increase, diminish, intensify, shape, shift, transfer, give a color to, do something about, bring up to date.

    Antonyms maintain, preserve, set, fix.

  2. To put in place of another

    exchange, replace, substitute, alternate, switch, interchange, rotate, displace, supplant, transpose, trade, swap*; see also exchange 1, replace 1, substitute 2.

  3. To change clothing

    undress, disrobe, dress, make one's toilet; see dress 1.

  4. To become different

    alter, vary, fluctuate, vacillate, modify, metamorphose, evolve, be converted, turn into, turn from, resolve into, grow, ripen, mellow, mature, develop, be transformed, reform, moderate, adapt, adjust, mutate, diverge, deviate, shift, veer, swerve, tack, deflect, warp, merge into, shade, cloud, break, graduate, grade, come around, take a new turn, reverse oneself, do an about-face*, flip-flop*, blow hot and cold*; see also sense 1, become 1.

change denotes making or becoming distinctly different and implies either a radical transmutation of character or replacement with something else success changed her; I'll change my shoes; alter implies a more partial change, as in appearance, so that the identity is preserved to alter a garment; vary suggests irregular or intermittent change to vary one's reading; modify implies minor change, often so as to limit or moderate to modify the language of a report; transform implies a change in form and now, usually, in nature or function to transform matter into energy; convert suggests more strongly change to suit a new function to convert a barn into a house

change Usage Examples

Object

  • attitude: Can laws passed by parliament help to change attitudes?
  • nature: Against this background several members of the department study the transformation of state-society relations and the changing nature of sovereignty in the international arena.

Converse of object

  • propose: You may be interested in the piece about proposed changes to the Highway Code on the ABD website.
  • make: Pattern making made a change from dealing with metal.
  • reflect: Membership would be amended to reflect changes over time.
  • tackle: CAG Consultants has been working with local authorities, regional and national government and other stakeholders to tackle climate change.

Converse of subject

  • affect: UK Climate Impacts Program helps organizations assess how they might be affected by climate change, so they can prepare for its impact.

Adjective modifier

  • significant: There will be a European Public Prosecutor, portending very significant changes in the way that justice is administered.
  • radical: At every level, there will be radical change.
  • major: New media are causing major changes in the nature of learning.
  • rapid: It's not the rapid changes during the course of a day that cause the most damage.
  • fundamental: I believe there is no fundamental change to the course the license is on.
  • minor: These are not minor changes to the way in which the EU is organized.

Noun used with modifier

  • climate: Effects on Humans Many people are confused about the way climate change affects them.
  • lifestyle: Lifestyle changes that may be helpful Smoking is particularly injurious for people with hypertension.
  • regime: Regime change in Washington would do more good to the world in the long run.

Present participle complement

  • depend: However this may change depending on the results of the consultation.

Preposition: without

  • notice: All rates are subject to change without prior notice.

Preposition: of

  • circumstance: Reasons for selling Due to a change of personal circumstances the vendor is now reluctantly offering the business for sale.
change Quotes

They call her a young country, but they lie: She is the last of lands, the emptiest, A woman beyond her change of life, a breast Still tender but within the womb is dry.

—Hope, A(lec) D(erwent)

Nec species sua cuique manet, rerumque novatrix ex aliis alias reddit natura figuras. nec perit in toto quidquam, mihi credite, mundo, sed variat faciemque novat, nascique vocatur incipere esse aliud, quam quod fuit ante, morique, desinere illud idem. cum sint huc forsitan illa, haec translata illuc, summa tamen omnia constant. No species remains constant: that great renovator of matter Nature, endlessly fashions new forms from old: there's nothing in the whole universe that perishes, believe me; rather it renews and varies its substance. What we describe as birth isno morethan incipient change froma prior state, while dying is merely to quit it. Though the parts may be transported hither and thither, the sum of all matter is constant.

—Ovid full name Publius OvidiusNaso   4317

Words are the bugles of social change.

—Handy, Charles Brian

   They flee from me, that sometime did me seek, With naked foot, stalking in my chamber. I have seen them gentle, tame, and meek, That now are wild, and do not remember That sometime they put themselves in danger To take bread at my hand; and now they range, Busily seeking with a continual change.

—Wyatt, SirThomas (the Elder)

Si sos gaucho en de veras, no has de mudar, porque andequiera que vayas ira¤  s con tu alma por delante. If you're reallya gaucho, you can't change, because wherever you go, you'llgowith your soul leading theway.

—Guiraldes, Ricardo

There is a certainrelief in change, even though it be from bad toworse† Ihave oftenfound intravelling ina stage- coach, that it is often a comfort to shift one's position, and be bruised in a new place.

—Irving,Washington

I am the daughter of Earth and Water, And the nursling of the Sky; I pass through the pores of the ocean and shores; I change, but I cannot die, For after the rain when with never a stain The pavilion of Heaven is bare, And the winds and sunbeams with their convex gleams Build up the blue dome of air, I silently laugh at my own cenotaph, And out of the caverns of rain, Like a child from the womb, like a ghost from the tomb, I arise and unbuild it again.

—Shelley, Percy Bysshe

   It is change, continuing change, inevitable change, that is the dominant factor in our society today† This, in turn, means that our statesmen, our businessmen, our everyman must take on a science fictional way of thinking.

—Asimov, Isaac

Change in a trice The lilies and languors of virtue For the raptures and roses of vice.

—Swinburne, Algernon Charles

A change is always nice.

—Euripides

Change is not made without inconvenience, even from worse to better.

—Johnson, Samuel known as Dr Johnson

The main business of socialist parties is not to form governments but to change minds.

—King, Carlyle

All thistime [San Francisco, from1955] Irealized we were involved as a community with a historical change of consciousness and some kind of cultural revolution† I thought it wasreally insomerespects a contest between further liberation or1984 authoritarianism, police state; that it was creeping police state or creeping socialism- libertarianism.

—Ginsberg, Allen

Change proves true on the day it is finished.

—I Ching   c.2000

We cannot help ourselves.We live at home, quiet, confined, and our feelings prey upon us.You are forced on exertion.You have always a profession, pursuits, business of some sort or other, to take you back into the world immediately, and continual occupation and change soon weaken impressions.

—Austen,Jane

   I didn't come into politics to change the Labour Party. I came into politics to change the country.

—Blair,Tony (Anthony Charles Lynton)

What man that sees the ever-whirling wheel Of Change, the which all mortal things doth sway, But that thereby doth find, and plainly feel, How mutability in them doth play Her cruel sports, to many men's decay?

—Spenser, Edmund

   If the Russian word 'perestroika' has easily entered the international lexicon, it isduetomorethanjust interest in what isgoing on in the Soviet Union. Now the whole world needs restructuring; that is, progressive development, a fundamental change.

—Gorbachev, Mikhail Sergeyevich

That great, growing engine of changeötechnology.

—Toffler, Alvin

Ah gentle pair, ye little think how nigh Your change approaches, when all these delights Will vanish and deliver ye to woe, More woe, the more your taste is now of joy.

—Milton,John

All conservatism is based upon the idea that if you leave things aloneyouleavethemastheyare.But youdonot.If you leaveathing alone you leave ittoa torrent ofchange.

—Chesterton, G(ilbert) K(eith)

Life may change, but it may fly not, Hope may vanish, but can die not; Truth be veiled, but still it burneth; Love repulsed,öbut it returneth!

—Shelley, Percy Bysshe

Plus  c° a change, plus c'est la me"  me chose. The more things change, the more they stay the same.

—Karr, Alphonse

Since 'tis nature's law to change, Constancyalone is strange.

—Rochester,JohnWilmot, 2nd Earl of

When it isnot necessary to change, it isnecessary not to change.

—Falkland, Lucius Cary,Viscount

To suffer woes which Hope thinks infinite; To forgive wrongs darker than death or night; To defy Power, which seems omnipotent: To love, and bear; to hope till Hope creates From its own wreck the thing it contemplates; Neither to change, nor falter, nor repent; This, like thy glory,Titan, is to be Good, great and joyous, beautiful and free; This is alone Life,Joy, Empire and Victory.

—Shelley, Percy Bysshe

It's not what's there that counts, it's what's projected öand†it's not what he projects but rather what the voter receives† It's not the man we have to change, but rather the received impression.

—Price, Raymond

Most revolutionaries are potential Tories, because they imagine that everything can be put right by altering the shape of society; once that change is effected, as it sometimes is, they see no need for any other.

—Orwell, George pseudonym of  Eric Arthur Blair

But O the heavy change, now thou art gone, Now thou art gone, and never must return! Thee shepherd, thee the woods, and desert caves, With wild thyme and the gadding vine o'ergrown, And all their echoes mourn.

—Milton,John

Well, people change and forget to tell each other. Too badöcauses so many mistakes.

—Hellman, Lillian Florence

It is the nature of a man as he grows older, a small bridge intime, toprotest againstchange, particularlychangefor the better.

—Steinbeck,John Ernest

Disillusionment inliving isthefindingout nobodyagrees with you . . .Complete disillusionment is when you realise that no one can for they can't change.

—Stein, Gertrude

A brave world, Sir, full of religion, knavery, and change: we shall shortly see better days.

—Behan, Brendan Francis

Forward, forward let us range, Let the great world spin for ever down the ringing grooves of change.

—Tennyson

Speech is the small change of silence.

—Meredith, George

A state withoutthemeans of some change iswithout the means of its conservation.

—Burke, Edmund

   The One remains, the many change and pass; Heaven's light forever shines, Earth's shadows fly: Life, like a dome of many-coloured glass, Stains the white radiance of Eternity, Until Death tramples it to fragments.

—Shelley, Percy Bysshe

Les gens ne changent pas. Ce sont les choses qui changent. People do not change.Things change.

—Vian, Boris

All my hope on God is founded He does still my trust renew, Me through change and chance he guideth, Only good and only true. God unknown, He alone Calls my heart to be his own.

—Bridges, Robert Seymour

The man who boasts that he habitually tells the truth is simply a man with no respect for it. It is not a thing to be thrown about loosely, like small change; it is something to be cherished and hoarded, and disbursed only when absolutely necessary.

—Mencken, H(enry) L(ouis)

Fate,Time,Occasion,Chance, and Change? To these All things are subject but eternal love.

—Shelley, Percy Bysshe

'Future shock'†the shattering stress and disorientation that we induce in individuals by subjecting them to too much change in too short a time.

—Toffler, Alvin

It is the necessary nature of a political in this country to avoid, as long as it can be avoided, the consideration of any question which involves a great change† The best carriage horses are those which can most steadily hold back against the coach as it trundles down the hill.

—Trollope, Anthony

Sex suppressed will go berserk, But it keeps us all alive. It's a wonderful change from wives and work And it ends at half past five.

—Ewart, Gavin Buchanan