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

But fortifying coastlines against climate change presents a new set of challenges. —Xander Peters, Smithsonian Magazine, 27 June 2024

Biden challenged Trump’s claims and touted the Inflation Reduction Act’s policies to address climate change and transition to renewable energy. —The Arizona Republic, 27 June 2024

These spikes underscore the effects of climate change and how rising temperatures worldwide are leading to hotter, longer, summers. —Li Zhou, Vox, 26 June 2024

By Kylie Mohr This is an edition of The Weekly Planet, a newsletter that provides a guide for living through climate change. —Kylie Mohr, The Atlantic, 26 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