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

According to his office, Scott was focused on climate change, criminal justice and law enforcement reform, education, healthcare, housing, immigration, labor and employment, transportation and infrastructure, veterans affairs and more during his tenure. —Irene Wright, USA Today, 23 Apr. 2026

Studies have shown that rising temperatures due to climate change are fueling longer wildfire seasons, and making blazes both more frequent and more destructive. —Kathryn Prociv, NBC news, 23 Apr. 2026

Students, staff and faculty advance sustainability, develop climate change solutions, promote conservation and biodiversity, while driving that policy at home and around the globe by educating a new generation of environmentally conscious leaders committed to saving the planet. —Julianna Lozada, Daily News, 23 Apr. 2026

This is the latest edition of Boiling Point, a newsletter about climate change and the environment in the American West. —Lila Seidman, Los Angeles Times, 23 Apr. 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