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

From climate change to global pandemics to the energy and water crises and more, none of these problems are going to solve themselves. —Big Think, 28 Nov. 2025

If successful, money raised from the tax would fund policies to combat climate change. —Carolin Roth, CNBC, 28 Nov. 2025

Christmas tree farmers around the country are dealing with drought, disease and damage from severe weather events – threats that are being exacerbated by climate change. —Nicole Fallert, USA Today, 28 Nov. 2025

Anderson thinks the current management plan is outdated and doesn’t consider the growing threat of climate change, which is driving many species north. —Sarah Henry, AZCentral.com, 28 Nov. 2025

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