Change Definition

chānj
changed, changes, changing
verb
changed, changes, changing
To undergo alteration or replacement.
Webster's New World
To cause to become different; alter; transform; convert.
Success changed him.
Webster's New World
To give a completely different form or appearance to; transform.
Changed the yard into a garden.
American Heritage
To give and receive reciprocally; exchange; switch.
Let's change seats.
Webster's New World
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.
Webster's New World
noun
changes
The act or process of substitution, alteration, or variation.
Webster's New World
Absence of monotony; variety.
Webster's New World
The replacing of one thing for another; substitution.
A change of atmosphere; a change of ownership.
American Heritage
A transformation or transition from one state, condition, or phase to another.
The change of seasons.
American Heritage
Something that is or may be substituted; something of the same kind but new or fresh.
Webster's New World
idiom
change hands
  • To pass from one owner to another.
American Heritage
change (one's) mind
  • To reverse a previously held opinion or an earlier decision.
American Heritage
change (one's) tune
  • To alter one's approach or attitude.
American Heritage
change off
  • to take turns
Webster's New World
ring the changes
  • to ring a set of bells with all possible variations
  • to do or say a thing in many and various ways
Webster's New World

Other Word Forms of Change

Noun

Singular:
change
Plural:
changes

Idioms, Phrasal Verbs Related to Change

Origin of Change

  • As a verb, via Middle English cha(u)ngen, from Anglo-Norman chaunger, from Old French changier (compare modern French changer), from Late Latin cambiāre, from Latin cambīre, present active infinitive of cambiō (“exchange, barter”), of Celtic origin, from Proto-Celtic *kamb- (“crooked, bent”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ḱamb-, *(s)kamb- (“crooked”). Cognate with Italian cambiare, Portuguese cambiar, Romanian schimb, Spanish cambiar. Used in English since the 13th Century.

    From Wiktionary

  • As a noun, from Middle English cha(u)nge, from Anglo-Norman chaunge, from Old French change, from a derivative of the verb changier. See below for the verb form. See also exchange.

    From Wiktionary

  • Middle English changen from Norman French chaunger from Latin cambiāre, cambīre to exchange probably of Celtic origin

    From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition

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