"change tack" meaning in English

See change tack in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Verb

Forms: changes tack [present, singular, third-person], changing tack [participle, present], changed tack [participle, past], changed tack [past]
Head templates: {{en-verb|*}} change tack (third-person singular simple present changes tack, present participle changing tack, simple past and past participle changed tack)
  1. (nautical) To change course or heading. Categories (topical): Nautical Synonyms: switch tack, change one's tack Derived forms: change of tack Translations ((nautical) to change course or heading): muuttaa kurssia (Finnish), virer de bord (French)
    Sense id: en-change_tack-en-verb-qyEBJinG Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 73 27 Topics: nautical, transport Disambiguation of '(nautical) to change course or heading': 94 6
  2. (figurative, by extension) To take a different approach. Tags: broadly, figuratively Synonyms: switch tack Translations ((figurative) to take a different approach): muuttaa suunnitelmaa (Finnish), vaihtaa suuntaa (Finnish), vaihtaa strategiaa (Finnish), changer de stratégie (French), changer de tactique (French)
    Sense id: en-change_tack-en-verb-E3-ySZfa Disambiguation of '(figurative) to take a different approach': 1 99

Alternative forms

Download JSON data for change tack meaning in English (3.5kB)

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  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "changes tack",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "changing tack",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
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      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "changed tack",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
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    },
    {
      "form": "changed tack",
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  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "topical",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Nautical",
          "orig": "en:Nautical",
          "parents": [
            "Transport",
            "All topics",
            "Fundamental"
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        },
        {
          "_dis": "73 27",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
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          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "derived": [
        {
          "_dis1": "79 21",
          "word": "change of tack"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To change course or heading."
      ],
      "id": "en-change_tack-en-verb-qyEBJinG",
      "links": [
        [
          "nautical",
          "nautical"
        ],
        [
          "course",
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      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(nautical) To change course or heading."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "switch tack"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "79 21",
          "word": "change one's tack"
        }
      ],
      "topics": [
        "nautical",
        "transport"
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "_dis1": "94 6",
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "(nautical) to change course or heading",
          "word": "muuttaa kurssia"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "94 6",
          "code": "fr",
          "lang": "French",
          "sense": "(nautical) to change course or heading",
          "word": "virer de bord"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2008 January 21, Brian Stelter, “MySpace changes tack to expand”, in The New York Times, →ISSN",
          "text": "So MySpace has changed tack. What was seen as a competitor to traditional media platforms is starting to resemble one.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2018 July 15, Jonathan Jurejko, “Novak Djokovic wins fourth Wimbledon by beating Kevin Anderson”, in BBC Sport",
          "text": "Anderson rarely ventured forward in the opening two sets, coming to the net on seven occasions, before changing tack and making 14 approaches in the final set alone.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2021 October 20, Ben Jones, “The benefits of (and barriers to) more leisure travel by rail”, in RAIL, number 942, page 32",
          "text": "Industry experts are concerned that if the railway doesn't change tack, it would soon find itself out of step with the needs of the nation and in the crosshairs of a Treasury looking to slash spending.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To take a different approach."
      ],
      "id": "en-change_tack-en-verb-E3-ySZfa",
      "links": [
        [
          "different",
          "different"
        ],
        [
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        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(figurative, by extension) To take a different approach."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "switch tack"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "broadly",
        "figuratively"
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "_dis1": "1 99",
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "(figurative) to take a different approach",
          "word": "muuttaa suunnitelmaa"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "1 99",
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "(figurative) to take a different approach",
          "word": "vaihtaa suuntaa"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "1 99",
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "(figurative) to take a different approach",
          "word": "vaihtaa strategiaa"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "1 99",
          "code": "fr",
          "lang": "French",
          "sense": "(figurative) to take a different approach",
          "word": "changer de stratégie"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "1 99",
          "code": "fr",
          "lang": "French",
          "sense": "(figurative) to take a different approach",
          "word": "changer de tactique"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "change tack"
}
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    "English multiword terms",
    "English verbs"
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  "derived": [
    {
      "word": "change of tack"
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  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "changes tack",
      "tags": [
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    },
    {
      "form": "changing tack",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
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    },
    {
      "form": "changed tack",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "changed tack",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "*"
      },
      "expansion": "change tack (third-person singular simple present changes tack, present participle changing tack, simple past and past participle changed tack)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "en:Nautical"
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To change course or heading."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "nautical",
          "nautical"
        ],
        [
          "course",
          "course"
        ],
        [
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      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(nautical) To change course or heading."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "switch tack"
        }
      ],
      "topics": [
        "nautical",
        "transport"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with quotations"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2008 January 21, Brian Stelter, “MySpace changes tack to expand”, in The New York Times, →ISSN",
          "text": "So MySpace has changed tack. What was seen as a competitor to traditional media platforms is starting to resemble one.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2018 July 15, Jonathan Jurejko, “Novak Djokovic wins fourth Wimbledon by beating Kevin Anderson”, in BBC Sport",
          "text": "Anderson rarely ventured forward in the opening two sets, coming to the net on seven occasions, before changing tack and making 14 approaches in the final set alone.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2021 October 20, Ben Jones, “The benefits of (and barriers to) more leisure travel by rail”, in RAIL, number 942, page 32",
          "text": "Industry experts are concerned that if the railway doesn't change tack, it would soon find itself out of step with the needs of the nation and in the crosshairs of a Treasury looking to slash spending.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To take a different approach."
      ],
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          "different",
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        [
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          "approach"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(figurative, by extension) To take a different approach."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "switch tack"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "broadly",
        "figuratively"
      ]
    }
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  "synonyms": [
    {
      "word": "change one's tack"
    }
  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "(nautical) to change course or heading",
      "word": "muuttaa kurssia"
    },
    {
      "code": "fr",
      "lang": "French",
      "sense": "(nautical) to change course or heading",
      "word": "virer de bord"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "(figurative) to take a different approach",
      "word": "muuttaa suunnitelmaa"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "(figurative) to take a different approach",
      "word": "vaihtaa suuntaa"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "(figurative) to take a different approach",
      "word": "vaihtaa strategiaa"
    },
    {
      "code": "fr",
      "lang": "French",
      "sense": "(figurative) to take a different approach",
      "word": "changer de stratégie"
    },
    {
      "code": "fr",
      "lang": "French",
      "sense": "(figurative) to take a different approach",
      "word": "changer de tactique"
    }
  ],
  "word": "change tack"
}

This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-05-06 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-05-02 using wiktextract (f4fd8c9 and c9440ce). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.