Meaning & use
fundamentally change
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Meanings
verbtransitive
to alter something so deeply that its basic nature or main features are no longer the same.
Grammar: Needs an object: The internet fundamentally changed shopping. For a person or thing changing by itself, use the passive: The industry was fundamentally changed.
Patterns
- fundamentally change something
- fundamentally change how/what ...
- be fundamentally changed by something
The new law fundamentally changed how companies handle personal data.
Having children fundamentally changed the way she planned her career.
Their approach to teaching was fundamentally changed by the pandemic.
verbtransitivefigurative
to make people rethink or replace their most important ideas or beliefs about something.
Grammar: Often used about ideas, beliefs, or systems: The discovery fundamentally changed our understanding of the universe.
Patterns
- fundamentally change our understanding of something
- fundamentally change the way someone thinks
Her research fundamentally changed our understanding of memory.
The book fundamentally changed the way a generation thought about nature.
Word forms
| third person singular | fundamentally changes |
|---|---|
| past tense | fundamentally changed |
| past participle | fundamentally changed |
| -ing form | fundamentally changing |
Common combinations
- fundamentally change the way
- Email fundamentally changed the way offices communicate.
- fundamentally change society
- Cheap electricity fundamentally changed society in the twentieth century.
- fundamentally change the nature of something
- Remote work has fundamentally changed the nature of the office.
- fundamentally change over time
- The language has fundamentally changed over the past two centuries.
- nothing fundamentally changes
- Despite the new rules, nothing fundamentally changed on the factory floor.
Synonyms and how they differ
- transform
- Stronger and more dramatic; it suggests a complete change of form, often for the better, while 'fundamentally change' can be neutral.
- revolutionize
- Suggests a sudden, exciting change that affects everyone; more forceful and often used in business or technology writing.
- radically change
- Very close, but 'radically' stresses how extreme the change is, while 'fundamentally' stresses how deep or basic it is.
- alter
- A more formal verb for making a change; it can be small, so it is weaker than 'fundamentally change'.
Opposites
Word family
- fundamental adjective
- Basic and forming the base of something: a fundamental principle.
- fundamentally adverb
- In a deep, basic way: The two systems are fundamentally different.
- change verb
- To become or make different, at any level.
- change noun
- The act or result of becoming different.
Commonly confused: fundamentally change or fundamentally different?
fundamentally change vs fundamentally different
This phrase describes a state (The two plans are fundamentally different); 'fundamentally change' describes an action or process.
Practice
Choose the sentence that uses 'fundamentally change' correctly.
Choose one answer.
Only C describes a deep, basic change, which is what 'fundamentally' adds. A, B, and D are all small, everyday changes, where 'fundamentally' sounds far too strong.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “fundamentally change”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.