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View synonyms for changeling

changeling

[ cheynj-ling ]

noun

  1. a child surreptitiously or unintentionally substituted for another.
  2. (in folklore) an ugly, stupid, or strange child left by fairies in place of a pretty, charming child.
  3. Philately. a postage stamp that, by accident or intention, has been chemically changed in color.
  4. Archaic.
    1. a renegade or turncoat.
    2. an imbecile.


changeling

/ ˈtʃeɪndʒlɪŋ /

noun

  1. a child believed to have been exchanged by fairies for the parents' true child
  2. archaic.
    1. an idiot
    2. a fickle or changeable person
“Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged” 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012


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Word History and Origins

Origin of changeling1

First recorded in 1545–55; change + -ling 1
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Example Sentences

This is more Changeling than Invictus, as far as director Eastwood is concerned.

To be fair, and slightly ashamed of myself, I did not watch Changeling.

Die foolish beoples in the island, they say she is a wechsel-balg—what you call a fairy-elf changeling.

One more story of a "changeling" before we leave the subject.

Everybody believed Ellis to have been a changeling, and one saying of his is well known in that part of the country.

The same writer gives a similar account of the changeling mentioned above, p. 107.

Thiele relates a story in which a wild stallion colt is brought in to smell two babes, one of which is a changeling.

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