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
Cite this Entry
“Climate change.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/climate%20change. Accessed 5 Oct. 2026.
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