Word.ws English Dictionary

change the channel

change the channel verb: to redirect someone’s attention.

Verb

change the channel (third-person singular simple present changes the channel, present participle changing the channel, simple past and past participle changed the channel)

  1. (Canada, idiomatic) To redirect someone’s attention.
    • Repeated attempts to "change the channel" to pocketbook issues that traditionally favor Democratic candidates have flopped.2002 October 20, Thomas M. Defrank, “Dems Can't Cash In on Economy”, in New York Daily News, retrieved 17 Oct 2013
    • “This is all smoke and mirrors because the issue in this campaign is taxes, which candidate is going to raise them and which candidate is going to cut them,” Harris said. “Bill McBride doesn’t want that to be the focus so he’s trying to change the channel.”2002 October 26, Ken Thomas, “McBride Ad Reveals Praise from Bush”, in Sarasota Herald-Tribune, Sarasota, Florida, retrieved 17 Oct 2013, page 6B
    Antonyms:
    stay tuned
  2. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see change, the, channel.
    Antonyms:
    stay tuned

Examples of change the channel in a sentence

  • Conservative Leader Stephen Harper tried to change the channel on a campaign of distractions Wednesday as he deftly neutralized the Afghan mission as an election issue.2008 September 10, “Harper’s Fresh Commitment on Afghan Pullout Neutralizes War as Election Issue”, in The Guardian (Canadian Press)...
  • Instead, they try to change the channel by inventing scapegoats and bogeymen. […]”2012 January 9, Les Whittington, “Environmentalists Hit Back Over Pipeline Hearings”, in Toronto Star, retrieved 17 Oct 2013:

Synonyms of change the channel

Antonyms

Forms of change the channel

third-person singular presentchanges the channel
present participlechanging the channel
past participlechanged the channel
pastchanged the channel

Origin of change the channel

In allusion to television.

Questions about change the channel

What does change the channel mean?
Change the channel means to redirect someone’s attention.
How do you use change the channel in a sentence?
Conservative Leader Stephen Harper tried to change the channel on a campaign of distractions Wednesday as he deftly neutralized the Afghan mission as an election issue.
What part of speech is change the channel?
Change the channel is a verb.
What is the past tense of change the channel?
The past tense of change the channel is changed the channel.

Words near change the channel in the dictionary

  1. change someone's tune
  2. change table
  3. change tables
  4. change tack
  5. change tact
  6. change the channel
  7. change the game
  8. change the leg
  9. change the record
  10. change the subject
  11. change up

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: change the channel (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-au-change the channel.ogg.

Cite this entry: “change the channel.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/change_the_channel. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.