Global warming

noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A sustained increase in the average temperature of the Earth, sufficient to cause climate change. uncountable

    "As a movie, The Day After Tomorrow is your classic computer-generated cinematic confection, only the bad guy isn't an alien or a giant lizard, it's global warming."

  2. 2
    an increase in the average temperature of the earth's atmosphere (especially a sustained increase that causes climatic changes) wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
climate changeclimate shiftgreenhouse effect

Example

More examples

"As a movie, The Day After Tomorrow is your classic computer-generated cinematic confection, only the bad guy isn't an alien or a giant lizard, it's global warming."

Etymology

First attested in the 1950s. Came into common use in the mid-1970s with Wallace Smith Broecker's paper “Climatic Change: Are We on the Brink of a Pronounced Global Warming?” and Mikhail Budyko's statement in 1976 that “a global warming up has started”.

Next best steps

Browse writing guidesExplore topic clusters