ice age

noun

Definition of ice age

1 : a time of widespread glaciation

2 capitalized I&A : the Pleistocene glacial epoch

Examples of ice age in a Sentence

changes that occurred during the last ice age

Recent Examples on the Web

Is the big one about to blow, blanketing the U.S. with ash and sending the Earth into a volcanic ice age? — Fox News, "Quakes and eruptions spark talks of Yellowstone supervolcano," 2 Oct. 2018 The idea that there was widespread scientific belief in the 1970s about a new ice age is common among climate change skeptics, though in reality scientific concern over global cooling was limited. — Andrew Kaczynski And Nathan Mcdermott, CNN, "Trump's pick for top UN migration job gave misleading answers on tweets critical of climate change," 8 May 2018 Their study may help explain why tail weaponry has gone missing since dinosaurs and some ice age animals went extinct. — Nicholas St. Fleur, New York Times, "Where Did Animals With Tail Weapons Go? Here’s a Back Story," 16 Jan. 2018 Both monuments represent a leap beyond the naturalistic images of the ice age. — Andrew Curry, Science | AAAS, "This 11,000-year-old statue unearthed in Siberia may reveal ancient views of taboos and demons," 25 Apr. 2018 These ice ages are caused by the planet's slowly-shifting rotational tilt. — William Herkewitz, Popular Mechanics, "Study Says Mars Had a Lot of Water Just 500,000 Years Ago," 23 June 2015 The thinking is that as the ice age ended and the enormous Laurentide ice sheet atop North America began to retreat, the resulting meltwater fed a bevy of large lakes atop the depressed surface of the continent. — Christopher Mooney, BostonGlobe.com, "Scientists may have solved a huge riddle that led to more than 1,000 years of cold on Earth. It doesn’t bode well," 12 July 2018 Dr Waltham argues that the Moon is just the right size to allow the Earth both a stable obliquity and poles warm enough to keep any ice ages relatively minor. — The Economist, "Empty sky, empty Earth?," 5 July 2018 Despite the criticism, Herridge, Carnall, and Freedman are all excited that Lego is featuring ice age animals and inspiring kids about science. — Alessandra Potenza, The Verge, "Digging mammoths in the Arctic isn’t as pretty and sci-fi as this new Lego set suggests," 21 May 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'ice age.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.