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

And today, experts say, climate change is to blame. —Maya Eaglin, NBC News, 11 Dec. 2024

Habitat for Humanity, through our work in more than 70 countries, sees firsthand how low-income families—despite contributing the least to global carbon emissions—often bear the brunt of climate change. —Jonathan Reckford, TIME, 10 Dec. 2024

So melting permafrost could become a potentially massive source of greenhouse emissions that would contribute to climate change. —Barbara Moran, NPR, 10 Dec. 2024

That doesn’t help sea level rise due to climate change. —Rachel Frazin, The Hill, 10 Dec. 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