ice age

noun

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

Analysis of the core showed, in extraordinary detail, how temperatures in central Greenland had varied during the last ice age, which in the U.S. is called the Wisconsin. —Elizabeth Kolbert, The New Yorker, 7 Oct. 2024

These finds challenge the accepted notion of when our ancestors first crossed into America via the Bering Land Bridge between Siberia and Alaska during the last ice age. —Martin Broen, Smithsonian Magazine, 1 Oct. 2024

The event, according to research, may have triggered a 1000-year-long ice age, wiping out many large animals, including mammoths, and dramatically marking the growth of human civilization. —Sean Mowbray, Discover Magazine, 23 Sep. 2024

But wolf advocates say one difference here is that humans were to blame for this loss, not an ice age, not an asteroid, not volcanic eruptions. —Shaun McKinnon, The Arizona Republic, 29 July 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1855, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Kids Definition

ice age

noun

1

: a time of widespread glaciation

2

capitalized I&A : the most recent such period in the earth's past