WARMING

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does warming mean? 

• WARMING (noun)
  The noun WARMING has 2 senses:

1. the process of becoming warmer; a rising temperature

2. warm weather following a freeze; snow and ice melt

  Familiarity information: WARMING used as a noun is rare.

• WARMING (adjective)
  The adjective WARMING has 2 senses:

1. imparting heat

2. producing the sensation of heat when applied to the body

  Familiarity information: WARMING used as an adjective is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• WARMING (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The process of becoming warmer; a rising temperature

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural processes

Synonyms:

heating; warming

Hypernyms ("warming" is a kind of...):

temperature change (a process whereby the degree of hotness of a body (or medium) changes)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "warming"):

boiling (the application of heat to change something from a liquid to a gas)

global warming (an increase in the average temperature of the earth's atmosphere (especially a sustained increase that causes climatic changes))

induction heating (the heating of a conducting material caused by an electric current induced in it)

overheating (excessive heating)

radiant heating (heating a building by radiation from panels containing hot water or electrical heaters)

melt; melting; thaw; thawing (the process whereby heat changes something from a solid to a liquid)

Derivation:

warm (get warm or warmer)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Warm weather following a freeze; snow and ice melt

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural phenomena

Synonyms:

thaw; thawing; warming

Context example:

they welcomed the spring thaw

Hypernyms ("warming" is a kind of...):

atmospheric condition; conditions; weather; weather condition (the atmospheric conditions that comprise the state of the atmosphere in terms of temperature and wind and clouds and precipitation)

• WARMING (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Imparting heat

Context example:

a warming fire

Similar:

warm (having or producing a comfortable and agreeable degree of heat or imparting or maintaining heat)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Producing the sensation of heat when applied to the body

Synonyms:

calefacient; warming

Context example:

a mustard plaster is calefacient

Similar:

hot (used of physical heat; having a high or higher than desirable temperature or giving off heat or feeling or causing a sensation of heat or burning)

 Context examples 

Wrapping the limb in a heated blanket or warming the drugs or blood may help the drugs work better.

(Isolated Chemotherapeutic Limb Perfusion, NCI Dictionary)

The old woman went out, but saw no one on the stairs, and cried again: “Where are you?” “Here in the kitchen, I am warming myself,” cried the second drop of blood.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

We are very, very concerned about the rate of warming in the Arctic," she said.

(World Meteorological Org.: Arctic Warming Appears Irreversible, VOA)

Rising levels of planet-warming gases may reduce key nutrient levels in food crops, according to a new study.

(Planet-Warming Gases Make Some Food Less Nutritious, Study Says, Steve Baragona/VOA)

Making it cheaper to do so could help the global community remove the 100 billion to 1 trillion tons of carbon necessary to avoid catastrophic global warming by mid-century.

(Scientists Turn CO2 into Solid Coal, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

The Sun will be warming your eleventh house of hopes and wishes, an area of your chart that also rules your friendships

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

By absorbing increased carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, the ocean reduces the warming impact of these emissions were they to remain in the atmosphere.

(Global ocean is absorbing more carbon from fossil fuel emissions, NOAA)

East Asian floods, African droughts and the frequent California fires may be linked to the rapid warming of the Indo-Pacific Ocean that impacts global rainfall patterns and corresponding weather, says a new study.

(Global disasters linked to warming Indo-Pacific seas, SciDev.Net)

"Action to alleviate the impact of warming oceans is a priority and understanding the role of pollutants in coral disease and mortality gives us more options for solutions."

(Sea fan corals face new threat in warming ocean: copper, National Science Foundation)

Coral reefs became degraded due to warming seas, and those degraded reefs contain many dead corals and far fewer inhabitants.

(Loudspeakers used to attract fish back to dying coral reefs, SciDev.Net)