climate canary

English

Etymology

Derived from miner's canary.

Noun

climate canary (plural climate canaries)

  1. A species that is affected by an environmental danger prior to other species, thus serving as an early warning system for the other species with regard to a danger.
    Hypernym: bioindicator

Usage notes

  • Chosen as the most useful word of 2006 by the American Dialect Society.

References

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