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

Firefighters and authorities in both European countries were caught off guard by the virulence of the fires, which were fueled by high temperatures and the long-term effects of climate change. — ABC News, 25 July 2026

Russell said that breadfruit will become more common as climate change continues to trend toward warmer conditions throughout the world as a response to burning fossil fuels. — Ashley Miznazi, Miami Herald, 24 July 2026

For example, studies of Hurricane Harvey, which dumped 50 inches of rain in parts of the Houston area in 2017 and caused widespread flooding, concluded that climate change increased the amount of rainfall the storm produced. — Deepti Singh, The Conversation, 24 July 2026

But climate change means that such conditions are no longer confined to specific regions of the globe, and people everywhere are beginning to contend with once-rare events becoming almost routine. — Emma Sarappo, The Atlantic, 24 July 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1854, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for climate change

• arrange
• derange
• estrange
• exchange
• midrange
• grange
• mange
• range
• strange
• interchange
• rearrange

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