Meanings
plural step changes
- A sudden, discontinuous change.
This 'pre-funding' helps smooth payments and avoids step-changes in charges to operators, according to ORR [Office of Rail and Road].
2019 November 6, Philip Haigh, “Analysis”, in Rail, page 321 more example
The report, stark and uncompromising, marks a step change in Europe's own role in pushing for international action to combat climate change, as it will be used in a bid to commit the EU to ambitious new targets for cutting emissions of greenhouse gases.
2007 January 10, Michael McCarthy, Stephen Castle, “http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/climate-change/eu-climate-change-will-transform-the-face-of-the-continent-431491.html”, in The Independent
Synonyms & antonyms
Origin
The concept has been borrowed from mathematics and technology terminology, from step function.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Finnish askelmuutos
- askelmuutosA sudden, discontinuous change
Cite this entry
step change. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/step%20change
“step change.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/step%20change. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “step change,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/step%20change.
Source: step change on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.