seismic shift
seismic shift noun: a fundamental reorientation of a state of affairs.
Noun
seismic shift (plural seismic shifts)
- A fundamental reorientation of a state of affairs.
- The seismic shift in Mexico began in 1810 with the movement toward independence from Spain.1958, Waldo Frank, "Mexico" in The Romance of North America (Hardwick Moseley, ed.), Houghton Mifflin, p. 127 (Google snippet view)
- For the republican movement, the acceptance of seats in a "partitionist" Assembly signaled a seismic shift in historical attitudes since the division of Ireland in 1921.1999 December 6, Eamon Phoenix, “Peace Is Breaking Out”, in Time, retrieved 19 May 2015
- Synonyms:
- upheaval
Examples of seismic shift in a sentence
- [T]he U.S. could be on the verge of a seismic shift, where it is possible to envision a time when it will no longer be the dominant economic superpower.2007 December 10, “Most Important of 2007”, in Businessweek, retrieved 19 May 2015:
- Baby boomers began turning 65 in January, heralding a seismic shift in demographics worldwide.2011 February 5, “The Aging of America”, in New York Times, retrieved 19 May 2015:
Synonyms of seismic shift
Forms of seismic shift
| plural | seismic shifts |
|---|
Origin of seismic shift
An allusion to the drastic change of the landscape caused by a massive earthquake.
Questions about seismic shift
- What does seismic shift mean?
- Seismic shift means a fundamental reorientation of a state of affairs.
- How do you use seismic shift in a sentence?
- [T]he U.S. could be on the verge of a seismic shift, where it is possible to envision a time when it will no longer be the dominant economic superpower.
- What part of speech is seismic shift?
- Seismic shift is a noun.
- What is the plural of seismic shift?
- The plural of seismic shift is seismic shifts.
Words near seismic shift in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: seismic shift (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.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-au-seismic shift.ogg.
Cite this entry: “seismic shift.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/seismic_shift. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.