anthropocene
/ˈæn.θɹə.pəˌsin/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: 2.23 in modern English
19
Scrabble Score
12
Letters
4
Syllables
9
Unique Chars
Meaning
name
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.)
Formal
name
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).
Informal
Example Sentences
- "Holonyms: Quaternary (current period), Age of Man (dated)"
- "The tempo of evolution in South American hamsters was very rapid – in the course of the Pliocene and Anthropocene 40 genera were formed here, at which time a series of them attained the level of tribe and subtribe (Oxymycteri, Phyllotiini, Ichthyomyini)."
- "The above palynologic data indicate that the evolutionary history of vegetation in the upper reaches of the Indigirka during the Holocene was much more complex than has been thought and than is reflected in the existing stratigraphic maps of the Anthropocene of the Northeast USSR[…]."
- "Considering these and many other major and still growing impacts of human activities on earth and atmosphere, and at all, including global, scales, it seems to us more than appropriate to emphasize the central role of mankind in geology and ecology by proposing to use the term "anthropocene" for the current geological epoch."
- "Phoenix [in Arizona] and Lubbock [in Texas] are both caught in severe drought, and it is going to get much worse. We may see many such [dust] storms in the decades ahead, along with species extinctions, radical disturbance of ecosystems, and intensified social conflict over land and water. Welcome to the Anthropocene, the epoch when humans have become a major geological and climatic force."
- "Plastics are energy-rich substances, which is why many of them burn so readily. Any organism that could unlock and use that energy would do well in the Anthropocene. Terrestrial bacteria and fungi which can manage this trick are already familiar to experts in the field."
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.
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈæn.θɹə.pəˌsin/
- British English: /ˈæn.θɹə.pəˌsiːn/
Usage
Inflected Forms
the Anthropocene (canonical)