change (redirected from changed step)

change hands

to be sold by someone and bought by another person. The hotel has changed hands twice since 1982.

See also: hand

a change of heart

if someone has a change of heart, they change their opinion or the way they feel about something. The revised legislation follows a change of heart by the government. She was going to sell the house but had a change of heart at the last minute.

See also: heart

the change of life

the time in a woman's life when she is no longer young and stops having a monthly flow of blood. For the last ten years she's been blaming all her health problems on the change of life.

See also: life

change tack

to start using a different method for dealing with a situation, especially in the way that you communicate. I've been very pleasant with them so far but if they don't cooperate, I may have to change tack. Instead of always asking him what he wants, why don't you try a different tack and tell him what you want?

See also: tack

change your tune

to change your opinion completely, especially because you know it will bring you an advantage. He was against the idea to start with, but he soon changed his tune when I told him how much money he'd get out of it.

See also: tune

change/keep up/move with the times

to change your way of living or working to make it modern. I don't really like using a computer, but you have to move with the times, I suppose.

See also: keep, move, times

change/mend your ways

to improve the way in which you behave. If he wants to carry on living here, he's going to have to change his ways.

See also: mend, ways

chop and change (British & Australian)

to keep changing what you do or what you plan to do, often in a way that is confusing and annoying for other people. After six months of chopping and changing, we've decided to go back to our old system.

See also: chop

get no change out of someone (British & Australian, informal)

if you say that someone will get no change out of another person, you mean that person will not help them. You'll get no change out of Chris. He'll just say it's not his problem.

A leopard can't/doesn't change its spots.

something that you say which means that a person's character, especially if it is bad, will not change, even if they pretend it has. I doubt very much that marriage will change Chris for the better. A leopard doesn't change its spots.

See also: can't, doesn't, spot

plus ça change (plus c'est la même chose) (mainly British)

something that you say which means that a situation or problem is the same even when the people or things involved in it have changed. Despite the change in government, single mothers are still the target of spending cuts. Plus ça change, it would seem.

ring the changes (British & Australian)

to make something more interesting by changing it in some way. Bored with your old look? Ring the changes with our new-look hairstyles and make-up!

See also: ring

a sea change (literary)

a complete change. The huge increase in the number of people working freelance represents a sea change in patterns of employment over the last 10 years. (often + in)

See also: sea

short-change someone (informal)

to cheat someone by giving them less than they expected. No one told me the film was only an hour long - I was short-changed! (usually passive)

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change hands

to be moved from one owner to another. Today a record number of shares changed hands on the stock market. Over two centuries, this beautiful city on the border between the two countries changed hands at least four times.

See also: hand

change your mind

to have a different opinion or intention than you had before. If you don't buy the painting now, he may change his mind and refuse to sell it. After the interview I completely changed my mind about her abilities.

See also: mind

a change of heart

a decision that what you thought earlier is not true or right now. He'd been active in the organization for years, but after a change of heart, Yang left the group. He never wanted a movie made about him, but three months before he died, Chavez suddenly had a change of heart.

See also: heart

a change of pace

a different activity than what came before. People need to get up and move around at lunchtime — they need a change of pace, and a chance to socialize. He decided to take the role because it was a nice change of pace from his last few movies.

See also: pace

change places

to exchange positions with someone. He may be rich and famous, but I wouldn't change places with him, not even for a million dollars. The twins looked so alike, they would sometimes trade places and confuse their teachers.

See also: place

change your tune

to change your opinion completely. They'll change their tune when they see that their advice is making people angry with them.

See also: tune

change your ways

to improve your behavior. If he wants to continue living here, he's going to have to change his ways.

See also: ways

change with the times

to accept and use new ways. Hospitals are changing with the times and are much friendlier, more informal places. If you do not keep up with the times, you will lose customers.

See also: times

a chunk of change

a large amount of money. He's probably got enough money to buy a little ranch somewhere and still have a chunk of change left over.

Usage notes: often used with big, huge, or other modifiers: You'd have to agree that $80 million is a big chunk of change by anyone's standards.

for a change

as something different. Rhodes felt calm and almost happy, for a change. Why don't we eat dinner on the porch for a change?

quite a change

something very different. Claudia's new school is quite a change from her old one.

See also: quite

times have changed

conditions now are very different from those of the past. Years ago nobody in my neighborhood locked their doors, but times have changed and everyone has a burglar alarm.

See also: times