This study aims to describe (1) types of changes in word meaning and phrase, (2) the
causes of those changes. It employed descriptive qualitative. The data of this study
were words and phrases that have changed in meaning in “Opini” section in Kompas
newspaper in January 2019 edition . The data souce was text from “Opini” section in
Kompas newspaper in January edition 2019. There were three methods or techniques
used in this study, namely (1) data presentation, (2) data analysis, and (3) the results
of data analysis. In data presentation, the method used was observation method with
basic tapping technique and note technique. Comparative method with immediate
constituent analysis, equalizing technique, and distributional method with segmenting
immediate constituents technique and paraphrasing technique were used to analyze
the data.Informal method was used to analyze the results of the data. The findings
indicate that changes in word meanings and phrases include the type of meaning
changes, namely (1) widespread, (2) narrowed, (3) total change, (4) euphemism, and
(5) dysphemia. The types of changes in word meaning and the most dominant phrase
are widespread. Furthermore, the causes of changes in word meaning and phrases
that occured due to (1) development of science and technology, (2) social and cultural
development, (3) differences in usage, (4) the associations, (5) differences in sensory
responses, (6) abbreviations, (7) abbreviations, (8) grammatical processes, (9)
development of terms and causes of change in the word meaning and the most
dominant phrases that are due to grammatical processes.