climate breakdown

American  

[klahy-mit breyk-doun] / ˈklaɪ mɪt ˌbreɪk daʊn /

noun

Climatology.

1. the collective effects of harmful and potentially irreversible trends in climate, specifically those resulting from unchecked global warming.

   In September 2023, the United Nations announced that “climate breakdown has begun.”

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Etymology

Origin of climate breakdown

First recorded in 2000–05

Example Sentences

Now, there is certainly a feeling of never having been more aware of our mortality collectively — the pandemic, of course, and facing the ongoing existential threat of climate breakdown.

From Los Angeles Times • May 19, 2025

A mass roll-out of such restaurants could help tackle the UK's food poverty and malnutrition, while also increasing agriculture's resilience to climate breakdown and raising farmers' incomes.

From Salon • Dec. 11, 2024

There are 16 kids who brought the lawsuit, and the majority of them actually testified and gave these really personal, really moving testimonies about the ways that climate breakdown has threatened their ways of life.

From Slate • Jul. 30, 2023

The wildlife experts are part of an initiative called the Schools Climate Assembly, which aims to educate children and teenagers about climate breakdown.

From BBC • Jul. 24, 2023

“We want to have this conversation, and to bring it around to our demand about what we need to do to avoid climate breakdown and collapse,” Ms. Carrington said.

From New York Times • Oct. 26, 2022