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

The causes are complex and include variations in food available — something potentially linked to climate change — as well as rural depopulation, experts say. — CBS News, 8 Oct. 2026

With global climate change enabling more tropical cyclones to rapidly intensify, the Hurricane Center has been making more bullish first forecasts for certain storms, including Isaias. — Andrew Freedman, CNN Money, 8 Oct. 2026

Crowning 2026 as the hottest year would only be part of the picture; climate change doesn’t care about records. — Jackie Flynn Mogensen, Scientific American, 8 Oct. 2026

Eco effort Explora is a Certified B (or B Corp) company that works to address climate change, stimulate the local workforce, and provide benefits to the community by sourcing most of its products locally. — Condé Nast, Condé Nast Traveler, 7 Oct. 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