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

At a time when female scientists were still considered unusual, Foote performed groundbreaking early research into climate change and was the first to link carbon dioxide levels to global warming. —Caroline Carlson, Literary Hub, 2 Feb. 2026

Those that live along the border could die, and, in the long run, populations may be more susceptible to disease and climate change. —Lila Seidman, Los Angeles Times, 1 Feb. 2026

This kind of geoengineering, meant to address the symptoms of climate change without slowing it down, was a bête noire in the glaciology community. —Christian Elliott, The Atlantic, 31 Jan. 2026

According to Aars, much more research is needed to understand how other polar bears are adapting to climate change — and scientists are still unsure whether the polar bears of Svalbard can maintain their reindeer- and walrus-based diet. —Charlotte Phillipp, PEOPLE, 30 Jan. 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