global warming

noun

: an increase in the earth's atmospheric and oceanic temperatures widely predicted to occur due to an increase in the greenhouse effect resulting especially from pollution

A Russian-owned tanker … completed a journey in record time from Europe to Asia this month, auguring the future of shipping as global warming melts sea ice.

—Russell Goldman

Debates about stem cells, global warming, and alternative energy might be less contentious if the scientific issues behind them were better understood.

—Elizabeth Gettelman

The development is also meant to boost tourism in Zermatt, which, like many Alpine towns worried about the effects of global warming on winter tourism, is exploring ways to draw visitors throughout the year.

—Jim Rendon

… I think it makes a compelling case, at least for most audiences, that humans are the cause of most of the global warming that is taking place, and that unless we take quick action the consequences for our planetary home could become irreversible.

—Al Gore

Examples of global warming in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Brazil is home to about 60% of the Amazon rain forest, which absorbs carbon dioxide that would otherwise enter the atmosphere and contribute to global warming. —Sasha Rogelberg, Fortune, 8 June 2026

Participants will also have the opportunity to show their work and join activities surrounding COP 31, which will convene thousands of government delegates, world leaders, climate experts, and other stakeholders to advance efforts to limit global warming, through a collaboration with the GEF. —Vogue, 6 June 2026

Overall summer temperatures across North America are steadily rising, as global warming drives longer, hotter heat waves. —Rebecca Hersher, NPR, 4 June 2026

Its decline has contributed to less severe, although still dangerous, recent projections for future global warming. —Dan Vergano, Scientific American, 4 June 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1953, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for global warming

• nonconforming
• nonperforming
• brainstorming
• conforming
• deforming
• heartwarming
• informing
• performing
• reforming
• rewarming
• transforming
• forming

Kids Definition

global warming

noun

: a warming of the earth's atmosphere and oceans that is widely predicted to result from an increase in the greenhouse effect caused by air pollution