Meanings
nounglobal warming (uncountable)
- uncountableA sustained increase in the average temperature of the Earth, sufficient to cause climate change.
The pope’s acceptance that global warming is almost certainly man-made has irked the vocal minority with more skeptical views.
2015 June 28, Paul Vallely, “The Pope's Ecological Vow”, in The New York Times, →ISSN4 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.
2004 May 17, Lev Grossman, “Hollywood's Global Warming”, in Time, archived from the original on 28 Jun 2011In the popular imagination, global warming is mostly seen as a threat to cold-loving species, and there are good reasons for this. […] But global warming is going to have just as great an impact—indeed, according to Silman, an even greater impact—in the tropics.
2014, Elizabeth Kolbert, The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History, Picador, →ISBN, page 150The study is one of the first to implicate global warming from human activities as one of the factors that played into the Syrian conflict which is estimated to have claimed more than 190,000 lives.
2015 March 2, Ian Sample, “Global warming contributed to Syria's 2011 uprising, scientists claim”, in The GuardianThe Tibetan Plateau will experience significant water loss this century due to global warming, according to research published Monday that warns of severe supply stress in a climate change "hotspot".
2022 August 16, “Tibetan Plateau water stores under threat: study”, in France 24, archived from the original on 16 Aug 2022Synonyms: global heating · Antonyms: global cooling
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA sustained increase in the average temperature of the Earth, sufficient to cause climate change.
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Opposite
Origin
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”.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Afrikaans aardverwarming
- aardverwarmingincrease in the average temperature of the earth's atmosphere to cause climate change
Arabic اِحْتِبَاس حَرَارِيّ, اِحْتِرَار عَالَمِيّ
- اِحْتِبَاس حَرَارِيّ (iḥtibās ḥarāriyy)increase in the average temperature of the earth's atmosphere to cause climate change
- اِحْتِرَار عَالَمِيّ (iḥtirār ʕālamiyy)increase in the average temperature of the earth's atmosphere to cause climate change
Basque berotze globala
- berotze globalaincrease in the average temperature of the earth's atmosphere to cause climate change
Bengali বিশ্ব উষ্ণায়ন
- বিশ্ব উষ্ণায়ন (biśśo uśnaẏon)increase in the average temperature of the earth's atmosphere to cause climate change
Bulgarian глобално затопляне
- глобално затопляне (globalno zatopljane)increase in the average temperature of the earth's atmosphere to cause climate change
Catalan escalfament global
- escalfament globalincrease in the average temperature of the earth's atmosphere to cause climate change
Chinese Mandarin 全球變暖 /全球变暖, 全球暖化
- 全球變暖 /全球变暖 (quánqiú biànnuǎn)increase in the average temperature of the earth's atmosphere to cause climate change
- 全球暖化 (quánqiú nuǎnhuà)increase in the average temperature of the earth's atmosphere to cause climate change
Czech globální oteplování
- globální oteplováníincrease in the average temperature of the earth's atmosphere to cause climate change
Danish global opvarmning
- global opvarmningincrease in the average temperature of the earth's atmosphere to cause climate change
Dutch opwarming van de aarde, klimaatopwarming
- opwarming van de aardeincrease in the average temperature of the earth's atmosphere to cause climate change
- klimaatopwarmingincrease in the average temperature of the earth's atmosphere to cause climate change
Esperanto tutmonda varmiĝo
- tutmonda varmiĝoincrease in the average temperature of the earth's atmosphere to cause climate change
Estonian globaalne soojenemine
- globaalne soojenemineincrease in the average temperature of the earth's atmosphere to cause climate change
Finnish ilmaston lämpeneminen
- ilmaston lämpeneminenincrease in the average temperature of the earth's atmosphere to cause climate change
French réchauffement climatique
- réchauffement climatiqueincrease in the average temperature of the earth's atmosphere to cause climate change
German globale Erwärmung, Erderwärmung
- globale Erwärmungincrease in the average temperature of the earth's atmosphere to cause climate change
- Erderwärmungincrease in the average temperature of the earth's atmosphere to cause climate change
Greek παγκόσμια θέρμανση
- παγκόσμια θέρμανση (pagkósmia thérmansi)increase in the average temperature of the earth's atmosphere to cause climate change
Hebrew התחממות עולמית
- התחממות עולמיתincrease in the average temperature of the earth's atmosphere to cause climate change
Hindi भूमंडलीय ऊष्मीकरण, वैश्विक ऊष्मीकरण
- भूमंडलीय ऊष्मीकरण (bhūmaṇḍalīya ūṣmīkaraṇ)increase in the average temperature of the earth's atmosphere to cause climate change
- वैश्विक ऊष्मीकरण (vaiśvik ūṣmīkraṇ)increase in the average temperature of the earth's atmosphere to cause climate change
Hungarian globális felmelegedés
- globális felmelegedésincrease in the average temperature of the earth's atmosphere to cause climate change
Icelandic heimshlýnun
- heimshlýnunincrease in the average temperature of the earth's atmosphere to cause climate change
Indonesian pemanasan global
- pemanasan globalincrease in the average temperature of the earth's atmosphere to cause climate change
Irish téamh domhanda
- téamh domhandaincrease in the average temperature of the earth's atmosphere to cause climate change
Italian riscaldamento globale
- riscaldamento globaleincrease in the average temperature of the earth's atmosphere to cause climate change
Japanese 地球温暖化, 温暖化
- 地球温暖化 (chikyū ondanka)increase in the average temperature of the earth's atmosphere to cause climate change
- 温暖化 (ondanka)increase in the average temperature of the earth's atmosphere to cause climate change
Korean 지구 온난화, 온난화
- 지구 온난화 (jigu onnanhwa)increase in the average temperature of the earth's atmosphere to cause climate change
- 온난화 (onnanhwa)increase in the average temperature of the earth's atmosphere to cause climate change
Latin calefactio universalis
- calefactio universalisincrease in the average temperature of the earth's atmosphere to cause climate change
Latvian globālā sasilšana
- globālā sasilšanaincrease in the average temperature of the earth's atmosphere to cause climate change
Lithuanian visuotinis atšilimas
- visuotinis atšilimasincrease in the average temperature of the earth's atmosphere to cause climate change
Norwegian Bokmål global oppvarming
- global oppvarmingincrease in the average temperature of the earth's atmosphere to cause climate change
Persian گرمایش زمین, گرمایش جهانی
- گرمایش زمین (garmâyeš-e zamin)increase in the average temperature of the earth's atmosphere to cause climate change
- گرمایش جهانی (garmâyeš-e jahâni)increase in the average temperature of the earth's atmosphere to cause climate change
- گرمش زمین (garmeš-e zamin)increase in the average temperature of the earth's atmosphere to cause climate change
Polish globalne ocieplenie
- globalne ocieplenieincrease in the average temperature of the earth's atmosphere to cause climate change
Portuguese aquecimento global
- aquecimento globalincrease in the average temperature of the earth's atmosphere to cause climate change
Punjabi ਆਲਮੀ ਤਪਸ਼
- ਆਲਮੀ ਤਪਸ਼ (ālamī tapaś)increase in the average temperature of the earth's atmosphere to cause climate change
Romanian încălzire globală
- încălzire globalăincrease in the average temperature of the earth's atmosphere to cause climate change
Russian глоба́льное потепле́ние
- глоба́льное потепле́ние (globálʹnoje poteplénije)increase in the average temperature of the earth's atmosphere to cause climate change
Scottish Gaelic blàthachadh na cruinne
- blàthachadh na cruinneincrease in the average temperature of the earth's atmosphere to cause climate change
Slovak globálne otepľovanie
- globálne otepľovanieincrease in the average temperature of the earth's atmosphere to cause climate change
Spanish calentamiento global
- calentamiento globalincrease in the average temperature of the earth's atmosphere to cause climate change
Swahili ongezeko la joto duniani
- ongezeko la joto dunianiincrease in the average temperature of the earth's atmosphere to cause climate change
Swedish global uppvärmning
- global uppvärmningincrease in the average temperature of the earth's atmosphere to cause climate change
Tagalog pag-init ng mundo
- pag-init ng mundoincrease in the average temperature of the earth's atmosphere to cause climate change
Tamil புவி வெப்பநிலை அதிகரிப்பு
- புவி வெப்பநிலை அதிகரிப்பு (puvi veppanilai atikarippu)increase in the average temperature of the earth's atmosphere to cause climate change
Thai ปรากฏการณ์โลกร้อน
- ปรากฏการณ์โลกร้อนincrease in the average temperature of the earth's atmosphere to cause climate change
Turkish küresel ısınma
- küresel ısınmaincrease in the average temperature of the earth's atmosphere to cause climate change
Ukrainian глоба́льне потеплі́ння
- глоба́льне потеплі́ння (hlobálʹne poteplínnja)increase in the average temperature of the earth's atmosphere to cause climate change
Urdu عالمی حرارت, عالمی حدت
- عالمی حرارت (ā'lamī harārat)increase in the average temperature of the earth's atmosphere to cause climate change
- عالمی حدت (ā'lamī-hiddat)increase in the average temperature of the earth's atmosphere to cause climate change
- عالمی گرمائش (ā'lamī-garmā'iś)increase in the average temperature of the earth's atmosphere to cause climate change
- عالمی تپش (ā'lamī-tapiś)increase in the average temperature of the earth's atmosphere to cause climate change
- عالمی تمازت (ā'lamī-tamāzat)increase in the average temperature of the earth's atmosphere to cause climate change
Vietnamese ấm lên toàn cầu, nóng lên toàn cầu
- ấm lên toàn cầuincrease in the average temperature of the earth's atmosphere to cause climate change
- nóng lên toàn cầuincrease in the average temperature of the earth's atmosphere to cause climate change
- hâm nóng toàn cầuincrease in the average temperature of the earth's atmosphere to cause climate change
Yiddish גלאָבאַלישער אָנהייצן, גלאָבאַלע אָנוואַרעמען
- גלאָבאַלישער אָנהייצן (globalisher onheytsn)increase in the average temperature of the earth's atmosphere to cause climate change
- גלאָבאַלע אָנוואַרעמען (globale onvaremen)increase in the average temperature of the earth's atmosphere to cause climate change
Cite this entry
APA
global warming. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/global%20warming
MLA
“global warming.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/global%20warming. Accessed November 4, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “global warming,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/global%20warming.
Source: global warming on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.