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

Shrestha said everything points to climate change as the reason. — Ava Berger, NPR, 28 Aug. 2026

Prioritizing the same produce can have negative health effects and could make crops more susceptible to climate change. — Devika Rao, TheWeek, 28 Aug. 2026

Nepal’s warning systems likely saved many lives downstream, said Hannah Cloke, a professor of meteorology and climate change at the University of Reading in the UK. — Laura Paddison, CNN Money, 28 Aug. 2026

The cause of the flooding remains unclear, though scientists suspect a glacier collapse and say climate change may have contributed. — Anthony Robledo, USA Today, 28 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