greenhouse effect

noun

: warming of the surface and lower atmosphere of a planet (such as Earth or Venus) that is caused by conversion of solar radiation into heat in a process involving selective transmission of short wave solar radiation by the atmosphere, its absorption by the planet's surface, and reradiation as infrared which is absorbed and partly reradiated back to the surface by atmospheric gases

Examples of greenhouse effect in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

For example, a planet a little bit warmer than Earth—perhaps orbiting a hotter star or closer to a cooler star—could wind up with a runaway greenhouse effect that boils its oceans and eventually heats its desiccated surface to the melting point of lead. —Phil Plait, Scientific American, 7 Feb. 2024

Mitigates carbon dioxide emissions to bolster the earth's natural greenhouse effect. —Miami Herald, 6 June 2024

According to one theory, past eruptions set off a runaway greenhouse effect that converted the planet from a wet and temperate world into a super-hot and dry hellscape. —Will Sullivan, Smithsonian Magazine, 29 May 2024

Carbon dioxide in the Earth’s atmosphere absorbs then radiates heat coming from the planet’s surface, creating a greenhouse effect. —Karl Schneider, The Indianapolis Star, 28 Mar. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1907, in the meaning defined above

Kids Definition

greenhouse effect

noun

: the warming of the earth's atmosphere that occurs when the sun's radiation passes through the atmosphere, is absorbed by the earth, and is given off as radiation of longer wavelength which can be absorbed by atmospheric gases (as carbon dioxide and water vapor)