"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, Entries with translation boxes, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries, Terms with Finnish translations, Terms with French translations Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 54 46 Disambiguation of Entries with translation boxes: 53 47 Disambiguation of Pages with 1 entry: 49 51 Disambiguation of Pages with entries: 51 49 Disambiguation of Terms with Finnish translations: 54 46 Disambiguation of Terms with French translations: 52 48 Topics: nautical, transport Disambiguation of '(nautical) to change course or heading': 97 3
  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 Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, Entries with translation boxes, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries, Terms with Finnish translations, Terms with French translations Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 54 46 Disambiguation of Entries with translation boxes: 53 47 Disambiguation of Pages with 1 entry: 49 51 Disambiguation of Pages with entries: 51 49 Disambiguation of Terms with Finnish translations: 54 46 Disambiguation of Terms with French translations: 52 48 Disambiguation of '(figurative) to take a different approach': 5 95

Inflected forms

Alternative forms

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    {
      "form": "changes tack",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
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    },
    {
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    {
      "form": "changed tack",
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  "lang": "English",
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  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "topical",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Nautical",
          "orig": "en:Nautical",
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        "To change course or heading."
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      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(nautical) To change course or heading."
      ],
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          "word": "switch tack"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "84 16",
          "word": "change one's tack"
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        "nautical",
        "transport"
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      "translations": [
        {
          "_dis1": "97 3",
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "(nautical) to change course or heading",
          "word": "muuttaa kurssia"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "97 3",
          "code": "fr",
          "lang": "French",
          "sense": "(nautical) to change course or heading",
          "word": "virer de bord"
        }
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      "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": "quote"
        },
        {
          "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": "quote"
        },
        {
          "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": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To take a different approach."
      ],
      "id": "en-change_tack-en-verb-E3-ySZfa",
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          "different",
          "different"
        ],
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          "approach",
          "approach"
        ]
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        "(figurative, by extension) To take a different approach."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "switch tack"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "broadly",
        "figuratively"
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "_dis1": "5 95",
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "(figurative) to take a different approach",
          "word": "muuttaa suunnitelmaa"
        },
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          "_dis1": "5 95",
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "(figurative) to take a different approach",
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        },
        {
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          "word": "vaihtaa strategiaa"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "5 95",
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          "lang": "French",
          "sense": "(figurative) to take a different approach",
          "word": "changer de stratégie"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "5 95",
          "code": "fr",
          "lang": "French",
          "sense": "(figurative) to take a different approach",
          "word": "changer de tactique"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "change tack"
}
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    },
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    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "en:Nautical"
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To change course or heading."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "nautical",
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      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(nautical) To change course or heading."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "switch tack"
        }
      ],
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        "nautical",
        "transport"
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          "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": "quote"
        },
        {
          "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": "quote"
        },
        {
          "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": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To take a different approach."
      ],
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          "different",
          "different"
        ],
        [
          "approach",
          "approach"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(figurative, by extension) To take a different approach."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "switch tack"
        }
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        "broadly",
        "figuratively"
      ]
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    {
      "word": "change one's tack"
    }
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  "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"
}

Download raw JSONL data for change tack meaning in English (3.3kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2025-01-06 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2025-01-01 using wiktextract (f889f65 and 8fbd9e8). 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.