step change
an important positive change
TRANSLATION
step change = deutliche Verbesserung, wesentliche Veränderung --- GOOGLE INDEX step change: approximately 1,800,000 Google hits
STATISTICS
IN THE PRESS
There is a tremendous opportunity not just to maximise our athletes' success at the Games but also to drive a STEP CHANGE in Paralympic sport and its ability to impact on attitudes and change people's lives.
(BBC News)
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The next big STEP CHANGE for companies is to think flexible. Not just in terms of how a working day or week is structured or how or where work gets done, but over an individual’s career path.
(Financial News)
(BBC News)
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The next big STEP CHANGE for companies is to think flexible. Not just in terms of how a working day or week is structured or how or where work gets done, but over an individual’s career path.
(Financial News)
Did you
know?
step change
noun phrase
- a significant change, especially an improvement
(American Heritage Dictionary)
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"Change starts when someone sees the next step." (William Drayton, 19th century American politician)
The expression "step change" derives from the world of mathematics and physics, where it refers to a sudden change in a value, like in voltages. Think of the difference between alternating current, which on a graph looks like ocean waves, and direct current, which manifests itself in square waves that appear like "steps."
The expression step change seems to have surfaced in the 1990s. While dictionaries offer up slightly different definitions, most of them refer to it as a "significant" change that leads to some kind of improvement. The question is, what constitutes significant? Change is in the eye of the beholder to paraphrase an old proverb (beauty is in the eye of the beholder). Most people would agree that the introduction of smart phones is a step change in mobile communications technology for instance.
But as the Mind Your Language blog in the Guardian newspaper points out, they have "run stories featuring step changes in attitudes to parenting, in aviation emission reductions, in investment in Tesco stores, in the way businesses engage with communities, in the fight against Somali pirates, in the way we give to charity, in thinking about renewable energy, in the way we save, in the operations of sectarian groups in Pakistan, and in aviation technology."
We then seem to be surrounded by step changes. Or are they more like sea changes, which are defined as marked or profound transformations? If neither of these expressions fit, then try a "paradigm shift," which is a radical change in underlying beliefs or theory. Better yet, go for the "quantum leap," a sudden highly significant advance - a breakthrough.
Many of these expressions, including step change, have more or less been transformed into buzz words, meaning they are fashionable. So the next time you swap out that 600 watt microwave for a 1,000 watt model, don't forget to tell family and friends of your step change in cooking technology.
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SMUGGLE OWAD into today's conversation
"Technology is causing step changes in a wide range of businesses."
---
Thanks to Ulrike for suggesting today's word!
noun phrase
- a significant change, especially an improvement
(American Heritage Dictionary)
---
"Change starts when someone sees the next step." (William Drayton, 19th century American politician)
The expression "step change" derives from the world of mathematics and physics, where it refers to a sudden change in a value, like in voltages. Think of the difference between alternating current, which on a graph looks like ocean waves, and direct current, which manifests itself in square waves that appear like "steps."
The expression step change seems to have surfaced in the 1990s. While dictionaries offer up slightly different definitions, most of them refer to it as a "significant" change that leads to some kind of improvement. The question is, what constitutes significant? Change is in the eye of the beholder to paraphrase an old proverb (beauty is in the eye of the beholder). Most people would agree that the introduction of smart phones is a step change in mobile communications technology for instance.
But as the Mind Your Language blog in the Guardian newspaper points out, they have "run stories featuring step changes in attitudes to parenting, in aviation emission reductions, in investment in Tesco stores, in the way businesses engage with communities, in the fight against Somali pirates, in the way we give to charity, in thinking about renewable energy, in the way we save, in the operations of sectarian groups in Pakistan, and in aviation technology."
We then seem to be surrounded by step changes. Or are they more like sea changes, which are defined as marked or profound transformations? If neither of these expressions fit, then try a "paradigm shift," which is a radical change in underlying beliefs or theory. Better yet, go for the "quantum leap," a sudden highly significant advance - a breakthrough.
Many of these expressions, including step change, have more or less been transformed into buzz words, meaning they are fashionable. So the next time you swap out that 600 watt microwave for a 1,000 watt model, don't forget to tell family and friends of your step change in cooking technology.
---
SMUGGLE OWAD into today's conversation
"Technology is causing step changes in a wide range of businesses."
---
Thanks to Ulrike for suggesting today's word!
