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

The increase in natural disasters — and the ferocity of them — can be largely attributed to climate change, according to the United States Geological Survey. — Carson Bonner, AJC.com, 7 Aug. 2026

While there is little evidence of a statewide arson trend, intentionally set blazes have greater potential to spread as fire seasons lengthen, climate change intensifies and forests become denser. — Elizabeth Robinson, NBC news, 7 Aug. 2026

With a major expansion of housing construction a city priority and climate change intensifying, these neighborhoods face more frequent severe flooding and more contamination of homes and nearby waterways. — Len Maniace, New York Daily News, 7 Aug. 2026

But increasingly, studies show climate change is playing a role in intensifying natural weather events. — Dinah Voyles Pulver, USA Today, 7 Aug. 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