La Niña
noun
La Ni·ña
lä-ˈnē-nyə 
-nyä
-nyä
plural La Niñas
: an irregularly recurring upwelling of unusually cold water to the ocean surface along the western coast of South America that often occurs following an El Niño and that disrupts typical regional and global weather patterns especially in a manner opposite to that of El Niño
Examples of La Niña in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
Last year, for the first time, bleaching occurred during rainy and cooler La Nina conditions, even while some corals were gaining ground.
—
Dinah Voyles Pulver, USA TODAY, 17 Aug. 2023
This episode of La Nina left many parts of the world under extreme conditions, fatal for human life.
—Niharika Sharma, Quartz, 12 May 2023
Grasshopper outbreaks appear to get triggered by climate oscillations like La Nina and El Nino, according to Chelse Prather, an associate professor of environmental biology at the University of Dayton.
—Leia Larsen, The Salt Lake Tribune, 3 Aug. 2023
For the previous three years El Nino’s cool flip side, La Nina, dampened a bit of the heat humans are causing.
—Seth Borenstein, Anchorage Daily News, 22 July 2023
Many of those ups and downs are caused by the natural El Nino and La Nina cycle.
—CBS News, 17 July 2023
The current El Nino — a period of warming Pacific Ocean waters — formed a month or two earlier than usual, replacing a La Nina that, with its cooling of Pacific waters, served as a damper on global temperatures.
—Time, 6 July 2023
The world earlier this year got out of an unusually long-lasting and strong La Nina — El Nino’s flip side with cooling — that exacerbated drought in the U.S. West and augmented Atlantic hurricane season.
—Seth Borenstein and Isabella O'Malley, Anchorage Daily News, 8 June 2023
How El Niño and La Nina Are Different El Niño: The sea’s surface in the central and eastern tropical Pacific Ocean warms to above-average temperatures.
—Popular Mechanics, 24 May 2023
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Dinah Voyles Pulver, USA TODAY, 17 Aug. 2023
This episode of La Nina left many parts of the world under extreme conditions, fatal for human life.
—Niharika Sharma, Quartz, 12 May 2023
Grasshopper outbreaks appear to get triggered by climate oscillations like La Nina and El Nino, according to Chelse Prather, an associate professor of environmental biology at the University of Dayton.
—Leia Larsen, The Salt Lake Tribune, 3 Aug. 2023
For the previous three years El Nino’s cool flip side, La Nina, dampened a bit of the heat humans are causing.
—Seth Borenstein, Anchorage Daily News, 22 July 2023
Many of those ups and downs are caused by the natural El Nino and La Nina cycle.
—CBS News, 17 July 2023
The current El Nino — a period of warming Pacific Ocean waters — formed a month or two earlier than usual, replacing a La Nina that, with its cooling of Pacific waters, served as a damper on global temperatures.
—Time, 6 July 2023
The world earlier this year got out of an unusually long-lasting and strong La Nina — El Nino’s flip side with cooling — that exacerbated drought in the U.S. West and augmented Atlantic hurricane season.
—Seth Borenstein and Isabella O'Malley, Anchorage Daily News, 8 June 2023
How El Niño and La Nina Are Different El Niño: The sea’s surface in the central and eastern tropical Pacific Ocean warms to above-average temperatures.
—Popular Mechanics, 24 May 2023
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These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'La Niña.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Word History
Etymology
Spanish, the (female) child
First Known Use
1981, in the meaning defined above
Dictionary Entries Near La Niña
Cite this Entry
“La Niña.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/La%20Ni%C3%B1a. Accessed 27 Sep. 2023.
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Kids Definition
La Niña
noun
La Ni·ña
lä-ˈnē-nyə
-nyä
-nyä
: an irregularly occurring movement of deep cold water to the ocean surface along the western coast of South America that often occurs after an El Niño and that disrupts weather patterns especially in a manner opposite that of an El Niño
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