Meaning & use
life changes
Last updated
Meanings
nounusually plural
Major events or transitions that alter the course of a person's life, such as moving house, marrying, changing jobs or having a child.
Grammar: Often used with 'big', 'major' or 'sudden': she has faced several big life changes this year.
Patterns
- adjust to life changes
- cope with life changes
- a time of life changes
Starting university brings many life changes at once.
He made some positive life changes after the doctor's warning.
Therapists often help people cope with sudden life changes.
phrasefixed phrasefigurative
Used as a short statement, meaning that circumstances in a person's existence keep shifting, often unexpectedly.
Grammar: Here 'changes' is a verb and 'life' is the subject, so it is singular in meaning: life changes quickly.
Patterns
- life changes quickly
Life changes in an instant, so enjoy the little things.
As we get older, life changes and so do our priorities.
I didn't expect it, but life changes whether we are ready or not.
Word forms
| singular | life change |
|---|
Common combinations
- major life changes
- Divorce and moving abroad are major life changes.
- make life changes
- She decided to make some life changes after turning forty.
- cope with life changes
- Counselling can help you cope with life changes.
- adapt to life changes
- Some people adapt to life changes more easily than others.
- sudden life changes
- Sudden life changes can be stressful even when they are happy.
Synonyms and how they differ
- life transitions
- Life transitions is more formal and psychological, and stresses the passage from one stage to another.
- upheavals
- Upheavals are disruptive and usually unwelcome, while life changes can be happy or sad.
- milestones
- Milestones are marked achievements, such as graduating, rather than any kind of change.
- lifestyle changes
- Lifestyle changes concern daily habits such as diet or exercise, a narrower idea than whole-life events.
Opposites
Word family
- life noun
- existence and experience
- change noun
- a difference or alteration
- life-changing adjective
- having a deep, lasting effect on your life
- lifestyle noun
- the way someone lives day to day
Commonly confused: life changes or lifestyle changes?
life changes vs lifestyle changes
Lifestyle changes are adjustments to habits, such as eating less sugar. Life changes are bigger events that alter your circumstances.
Practice
Which of the following is the best example of a major life change?
Choose one answer.
Moving countries reshapes someone's home, work and relationships, so it is a major life change. The other options are small, everyday choices.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “life changes”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.