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

Thisfinding was published early Friday from World Weather Attribution, a scientific network which analyzes the role of climate change in driving extreme weather events. — Mary Gilbert, CNN Money, 4 July 2026

Dinah Voyles Pulver, a national correspondent for USA TODAY, writes about violent weather, climate change and other news. — Dinah Voyles Pulver, USA Today, 3 July 2026

Four fisher people from Indonesia’s Pari Island filed a legal complaint in 2023 against the Swiss construction company Holcim, which refutes their assertion that its climate change-causing emissions threaten their homes and livelihoods. — ABC News, 3 July 2026

The heat wave comes as scientists warn that climate change is exacerbating the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events. — Sam Meredith, CNBC, 3 July 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