Book 6 Test 1 Section 3

Climate change and the Inuit

Abandoned (adjective) Synonym: Copious

Left and no longer wanted, used or needed

  • An abandoned car/house

  • The child was found abandoned but unharmed.

  • There was an abandoned supermarket trolley in the middle of the road.

Capricious (noun) Synonym: Volatile

Showing sudden changes in attitude or behaviour

  • a movie star who was capricious and difficult to please

  • a capricious climate

  • They had to contend with capricious economic forces.

Community (noun) Synonym: Social Unit

All the people who live in a particular area, country, etc

  • local community

  • the international community

  • community parks/libraries

Descendant (noun) Synonym: offspring

A person’s descendants are their children, their children’s children, and all the people who live after them who are related to them

  • He was an O'Conor and a direct descendant of the last High King of Ireland.

  • Many of them are descendants of the original settlers.

Harsh (adjective) Synonym: Cruel, Severe

Cruel, severe and unkind

  • The punishment was harsh and unfair.

  • The minister received some harsh criticism.

Indigenous (adjective) Synonym: Native

Belonging to a particular place rather than coming to it from somewhere else

  • The indigenous peoples/languages of the area

  • The kangaroo is indigenous to Australia.

Meager (adjective) Synonym: Paltry

Small in quantity and poor in quality

  • A meager diet of bread and water

  • She supplements her meager income by cleaning at night.

Obesity (noun) Synonym: Fat

The quality or fact of being very fat, in a way that is not healthy

  • Obesity can increase the risk of heart disease.

Permafrost (noun) Synonym: Iceberg

A layer of soil that is permanently frozen, in very cold regions of the world

  • It is nearly impossible to stay at permafrost for long time.

Pottery (noun) Synonym: Crockery

Pots, dishes, etc. made with clay that is baked in an oven, especially when they are made by hand.

  • Roman pottery a piece of pottery fragments of Iron Age.

Precarious (adjective) Synonym: Dangerous

Not safe or certain; dangerous

  • He earned a precarious living as an artist.

  • The museum is in a financially precarious position.

  • The world is a precarious and unstable place.

Likely to fall or cause somebody to fall

  • That ladder looks very precarious.

  • The path down to the beach is very precarious in wet weather.

Thaws (verb) Synonym: Melt

Thaw (out) (of ice and snow) to turn back into water after being frozen

  • The country was slowly thawing out after the long cold winter.

Tremendous (adjective) Synonym: Huge, Remarkable

Very great

  • A tremendous explosion

  • A tremendous amount of work has gone into the project.