greenhouse gas
- any of the gases whose absorption of solar radiation is responsible for the greenhouse effect, including carbon dioxide, methane, ozone, and the fluorocarbons.
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Origin of greenhouse gas
First recorded in 1980–85
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for greenhouse gas
Contemporary Examples
A carbon tax may be a good way to respond to greenhouse-gas emissions.
Globally, livestock—mostly cattle—account for 18 percent of greenhouse-gas emissions.
Cattle rank up there with automobiles and power plants in terms of greenhouse-gas emissions.
New polling suggests 76 percent of Americans support some government limitations on greenhouse-gas emissions.
greenhouse gas
- any gas that contributes to the greenhouse effect
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Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
greenhouse gas
- Any of the atmospheric gases that contribute to the greenhouse effect by absorbing infrared radiation produced by solar warming of the Earth's surface. They include carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), nitrous oxide (N2O), and water vapor. Although greenhouse gases occur naturally in the atmosphere, the elevated levels especially of carbon dioxide and methane that have been observed in recent decades are directly related, at least in part, to human activities such as the burning of fossil fuels and the deforestation of tropical forests.
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The American Heritage® Science Dictionary
Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.