climate change

noun

: significant and long-lasting change in the Earth's climate and weather patterns

The half-tonne … turtles were thought to have died out 30,000 to 40,000 years ago because of climate change.

—New Scientist

especially, in current use : such change associated with global warming

Concerns about greenhouse gas emissions and global climate change are renewed among scientists and the public with every new report about the possibility of melting icecaps and rising temperatures.

—Randy Showstack

Drought is a paleontological fact in the American West, but the latest desiccations have a new signature, and my region's climatologists, hydrologists, foresters, and water managers are nearly unanimous in their conviction that what we are seeing now is climate change, the anthropogenic kind, a consequence of too much CO2 and other greenhouse gases.

—Kenneth Brower

Examples of climate change in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

The governor’s proposal takes $12.2 billion from the state’s rainy day reserves to help cover the shortfall over the next two years and reduces funding to address climate change, provide broadband internet and increase subsidized child care, among dozens of other cuts. —Taryn Luna, Los Angeles Times, 6 June 2024

The Biden administration is happy to spend billions of dollars to prop up electric vehicle production, on the pretense of fighting climate change. —Andrew J. Hawkins, The Verge, 6 June 2024

The mayor emphasized that Alameda supports climate change research, especially as an island, but pointed to testimonies from scientists at the meeting expressing concern that geoengineering projects could have unintended consequences across the globe. —Caelyn Pender, The Mercury News, 5 June 2024

His work, which often centers on freshwater issues, climate change and subsistence, has appeared in Circle of Blue, Sierra magazine, Discover magazine and Alaska Sporting Journal. —Christian Thorsberg, Smithsonian Magazine, 5 June 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1854, in the meaning defined above

Kids Definition

climate change

noun

: significant and long-lasting change in the earth's climate and weather patterns

especially : such change associated with global warming