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ice age

[ ahys-eyj ]
/ ˈaɪs ˌeɪdʒ /
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noun Geology.
a geologic period during which ice thickly covers vast masses of land: astronomical phenomena related to the widespread glaciation of ice ages.
Ice Age, the most recent of the earth’s many ice ages, occurring during the Pleistocene Epoch: Our familiar continents were shaped quite differently before the Ice Age.
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Origin of ice age

First recorded in 1870–75

Words nearby ice age

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use ice age in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for ice age

ice age

noun
another name for glacial period
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

Scientific definitions for ice age

ice age

Any of several cold periods during which glaciers covered much of the Earth.
Ice Age. The most recent glacial period, which occurred during the Pleistocene Epoch and ended about 10,000 years ago. During the Pleistocene Ice Age, great sheets of ice up to two miles thick covered most of Greenland, Canada, and the northern United States as well as northern Europe and Russia.
The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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