Anthropocene

name
/ˈæn.θɹə.pəˌsiːn/UK/ˈæn.θɹə.pəˌsin/US

Etymology

From a combination of anthropo- + -cene modeled on Holocene, Pleistocene, and similar. First attested in the 1960s in the translations of Russian-language scientific articles, possibly with a different meaning. Supposedly coined independently in the 1980s by American biologist Eugene Stoermer and later popularized by Dutch atmospheric chemist Paul J. Crutzen in 2000.

Definitions

  1. A proposed but rejected geological epoch, in which the effect of human activities on the…

    A proposed but rejected geological epoch, in which the effect of human activities on the global environment has disrupted the natural variability of the Holocene, ending the Holocene. (It was rejected as formal scientific nomenclature in 2024 owing to not meeting a bar for how a geological epoch is formally defined.)

    • Holonyms: Quaternary (current period), Age of Man (dated)
  2. The era of human impact on the environment, irrespective of its nomenclatural status as a…

    The era of human impact on the environment, irrespective of its nomenclatural status as a geological event or epoch; especially, the era of large impact (i.e., on industrial and postindustrial scale).

    • Holonyms: Holocene (current epoch) < Quaternary (current period), Age of Man (dated)
    • Meronym: assholocene (informal)

The neighborhood

Vish — recursive loop

No curated loop yet for Anthropocene. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA