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

Methane is a major driver of climate change Carbon dioxide may be more prevalent in the atmosphere, but methane is a heavy hitter, climate-wise. — Stephanie Pappas, Scientific American, 29 Oct. 2026

On the other hand, fossil fuel combustion releases CO2 and other greenhouse gases that drive climate change and air pollution. — Georgina Jedikovska, Interesting Engineering, 29 Oct. 2026

Hamilton once noted in a sermon that cattle ranching exacerbates climate change. — Emma Green, New Yorker, 29 Oct. 2026

On the big-picture scale, scientists have used the planetary boundaries framework to capture the complexity of the Earth’s systems, and the impact of climate change on all of them. — Bella Webb, Vogue, 29 Oct. 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