Holocene
adjective
Did you know?
To geologists, we live today in the Holocene epoch, the period that began about 10,000 years ago, at the end of the last ice age, when humans first began practicing agriculture. But what does Holocene have to do with "whole"? Well, in geological language, the Holocene epoch follows the Paleocene ("remotely recent"), the Eocene ("early recent"), the Oligocene ("scarcely recent"), the Miocene ("less recent"), the Pliocene ("more recent"), and the Pleistocene ("most recent") epochs—so the Holocene is the "wholly recent" period of geological time.
Dictionary Entries Near Holocene
Cite this Entry
“Holocene.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Holocene. Accessed 26 Nov. 2024.
Copy CitationKids Definition
Holocene
adjective
Share