change
nounEtymology
From Middle English changen, chaungen, from Old French changier, from Late Latin cambiāre, from Latin cambīre (“to exchange, barter”), derived from the noun cambium (“change”) (whence was loaned the English doublet cambium), from Gaulish cambion, earlier *kambyom (“change”), related to Proto-Celtic *kambos (“twisted, crooked”), possibly from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ḱh₂(e)mbos, *(s)kh₂(e)mbos (“crooked”). More at skimp, scam; see also Proto-Indo-European *kh₂em-. Cognate with Italian cambiare, Portuguese cambiar, Romanian schimba, Sicilian canciari, Spanish cambiar. Used in English since the 13th century. Displaced Middle English wenden, from wendan (“to turn, change”) (whence wend). The noun is from Middle English change, chaunge, from Old French change, from the verb changier. See also exchange. Possibly related from the same source is Old English gombe.
10 senses
- 1The process or result of becoming different.
- 2Small denominations of money given in exchange for a…
- 3A replacement.
- 4A replacement of a soiled diaper with a clean one; a…
- 5Balance of money returned from the sum paid after…
- 6An amount of cash, usually in the form of coins, but…
- 7A transfer between vehicles.
- 8A change-up pitch.
- 9Any order in which a number of bells are struck, other…
- 10A public house; an alehouse.
The process or result of becoming different.
- The product is undergoing a change in order to improve it.
- Such much-needed changes to the exam format might have a serious effect on candidates' performance.
2 more examples
- Cause people often talk about being scared of change / But for me I'm more afraid of things staying the same2008, Nick Cave, “Jesus Of The Moon”, in Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!!, performed by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds:
- Of all the transitions brought about on the Earth’s surface by temperature change, the melting of ice into water is the starkest. It is binary. And for the land beneath, the air above and the life around, it changes everything.2013 May 11, “The climate of Tibet: Pole-land”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8835, page 80:
Small denominations of money given in exchange for a larger denomination.
- Can I get change for this $100 bill, please?
A replacement.
- a change of clothes
- After beating champions Chelsea 3-1 on Boxing Day, Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger made eight changes to his starting XI in an effort to freshen things up, with games against Birmingham and Manchester City to come in the next seven days.2010 December 29, Mark Vesty, “Wigan 2 - 2 Arsenal”, in BBC:
A replacement of a soiled diaper with a clean one; a diaper change.
- The baby needs a change
Balance of money returned from the sum paid after deducting the price of a purchase.
- A customer who pays with a 10-pound note for a £9 item receives one pound in change.
An amount of cash, usually in the form of coins, but sometimes inclusive of paper money.
- Do you have any change on you? I need to make a phone call.
- This bus ride requires exact change.
A transfer between vehicles.
- The train journey from Bristol to Nottingham includes a change at Birmingham.
- It [the Elizabeth Line] will provide a 6tph (trains per hour) service and with a single change at Hayes & Harlington offer services towards Reading.2019 October, John Glover, “Heathrow rail expansion”, in Modern Railways, page 72:
Ball games, Baseball, Games, Hobbies, Lifestyle, Sports A change-up pitch.
Campanology, History, Human sciences, Sciences Any order in which a number of bells are struck, other than that of the diatonic scale.
- Four bells admit twenty-four changes in ringing.1669, William Holder, Elements of Speech: An Essay of Inquiry into the Natural Production of Letters: […], London: […] T. N[ewcomb] for J[ohn] Martyn printer to the R[oyal] Society, […], →OCLC:
- 1727-1728, Edward Burt, Letters from a Gentleman in the North of Scotland to his Friend in London They call an alehouse a change.
- Synonyms
- transition, transformation, alteration, change, deviation, modification, mutation, permutation, transfiguration, transmutation, variation
- Antonyms
- conservation, continuance, perpetuation, preservation
- Derived terms
108 terms
a change is as good as a rest, and change, baby change, ball change, breaking change, bureau de change, career change, changeability, change agent, change aversion, change bag, change bowler, change key, changeless, change log, changelog, changemaker, changemaking, change management, change of air, change of clothes, change-off, change of heart, change of innings, change of life, change of mind, change of pace, change of scene, change of scenery, change of state, change of tack, change of tune, change of venue, change order, changeout, change parade, changepoint, change purse, change ringing, change-ringing, changeroom, changeset, change table, change-up, change wheel, changiness, charter change, chemical change, chord change, chump-change, chump change, chunk of change, climate change, cool change, costume change, deflection change, fatty change, foldchange, for a change, gear change, Hopey McChange, hour change, keep the change, key change, language change, life change, loose change, megachange, microchange, minimal change disease, multichange, name change, net change, oil change, outerchange, overchange, phase change, physical change, pocket change, put the change on someone, quick-change, quick-change artist, rate of change, rechange, regime change, seachange, sea-change, sea change, seed change, sex change, sexual orientation and gender identity change efforts, sexual orientation change efforts, shortchange, small change, sound change, spange, spanger, spare change, step change, take your change out of that, technological change, the change, time change, treechange, truck driver's gear change, unchange, wind of change, winds of change- Related terms
- interchange, exact change, alteration, evolution, modification, mutation, plus ça change(, plus c'est la même chose), reorganization, transformation, alter
- Hyponyms
- conversion, evolution, revolution