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ANTHROPOCENE
Definition of ANTHROPOCENE
proper noun
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.)
Wiktionary · CC BY-SA
Where it comes from
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.
Etymology via Wiktionary (CC BY-SA).
Word DNA
Line of descent
2 recorded generations before English.
Deepest traced root
16th
of 59 source languages in OUTLIER
0.9%
of traced words share this origin (753)
branch · 22.6% of traced words
How it is built
OUTLIER scores every word on how unusual it is, and that number is not published. Working it out at the board is the game.
ANTHROPOCENE in OUTLIER
Players have found it on 1 board so far.
It first turned up on Day 159, 26 October 2026. Nobody has seen it on a board for 15 days.
First ever to find it
on Day 159, 26 October 2026 - before anyone else in Outlier's history. See the Pioneers
Built from these letters
ANTHROPOCENE starts with A and ends with E. Sorted, its letters read ACEEHNNOOPRT - the shape to hunt for when the grid is scrambled. N, O and E appear more than once.
Words that start ANTHROPO
Its neighbours in the OUTLIER dictionary - shortest first.
Could you have found ANTHROPOCENE?
OUTLIER is a daily word game. One grid, the same grid for everybody, and the words nobody else spots are the ones that pay. This word was on Day 159 - and most players walked straight past it.
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