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Holocene

adjective
Ho·​lo·​cene | \ ˈhō-lə-ˌsēn How to pronounce Holocene (audio) , ˈhä-\

Definition of Holocene

: of, relating to, or being the present or post-Pleistocene geologic epoch — see Geologic Time Table
Other Words from Holocene Did You Know? Learn More about Holocene

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Other Words from Holocene

Holocene noun

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.

First Known Use of Holocene

1897, in the meaning defined above

History and Etymology for Holocene

borrowed from French holocène, from holo- holo- + -cène -cene

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