interglacial

noun in·ter·gla·cial \ ˌin-tər-ˈglā-shəl \

Definition of interglacial

: a warm period between glacial epochs

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interglacial

adjective

Recent Examples of interglacial from the Web

Warm Air, Warm Ocean, Bad Juju Deconto and Pollard’s model shows how the West Antarctic ice could have collapsed 125,000 years ago, generating the high seas of the last interglacial.

— National Geographic, "Why the New Sea Level Alarm Can't Be Ignored," 1 Apr. 2016
The answers vary, since the span of possible ages for the site—120,000 to 140,000 years ago—cover the beginning of the last interglacial, the warm period before the last ice age.

— National Geographic, "Humans in California 130,000 Years Ago? Get the Facts," 26 Apr. 2017

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