A World of Words: Russia - Middle School and High School

You'll be a vocabulary tsar once you review these words related to Russia. In addition to learning about the climate, biomes, and natural resources of Russia, you'll explore Russian history from the Russian Empire to communism and the Cold War.
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. agriculture
    the practice of cultivating the land or raising stock
  2. air pollution
    pollution of the atmosphere
  3. Amur River
    an Asian river between China and Russia
  4. Arctic Ocean
    ice covered waters surrounding the North Pole
  5. Armenia
    a landlocked republic in southwestern Asia
  6. atheism
    the doctrine or belief that there is no God
  7. autarky
    economic independence as a national policy
  8. Azerbaijan
    a landlocked republic in southwestern Asia
  9. Baltic Sea
    a sea in northern Europe; stronghold of the Russian navy
  10. Barents Sea
    the part of the Arctic Ocean to the north of Norway and Russia
  11. basin
    a natural depression in the surface of the land
  12. Bering Strait
    a strait connecting the Bering Sea to the Arctic Ocean
  13. biome
    major ecological community with distinct climate and flora
  14. Black Sea
    a sea between Europe and Asia
  15. blini
    Russian pancake of buckwheat flour and yeast
  16. Bolshevik
    a Russian member of the left-wing majority group that followed Lenin and eventually became the Russian communist party
  17. boreal
    toward or located in the north
  18. borscht
    a soup containing beet juice as a foundation
  19. bourgeoisie
    a socioeconomic group that is neither wealthy nor poor
  20. canal
    long and narrow strip of water for boats or for irrigation
  21. capitalism
    an economic system based on private ownership of assets
  22. capitalist
    of an economic system based on private ownership
  23. Caspian Sea
    a large saltwater lake between Iran and Russia fed by the Volga River; the largest inland body of water in the world
  24. Catherine the Great
    empress of Russia who greatly increased the territory of the empire (1729-1796)
  25. Caucasus
    a large region between the Black and Caspian seas that contains the Caucasus Mountains; oil is its major resource
  26. Caucasus Mountains
    the mountain range in Caucasia between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea that forms part of the traditional border between Europe and Asia
  27. caviar
    salted fish eggs eaten as a delicacy
  28. Chechnya
    an autonomous republic in southwestern Russia in the northern Caucasus Mountains bordering on Georgia; declared independence from the USSR in 1991 but Russian troops invaded and continue to prosecute a relentless military campaign in the largely Muslim republic
  29. Chernobyl
    a city in north central Ukraine
  30. cold war
    a state of political hostility between countries
  31. collectivize
    bring under joint control of the people or state
  32. communal
    for or by a group rather than individuals
  33. communism
    a theory favoring collectivism in a classless society
  34. cooperative
    involving the joint activity of two or more
  35. Crimean War
    a war in Crimea between Russia and a group of nations including England and France and Turkey and Sardinia; 1853-1856
  36. Cyrillic
    an alphabet derived from the Greek alphabet and used for writing Slavic languages (Russian, Bulgarian, Serbian, Ukrainian, and some other Slavic languages)
  37. czar
    a male monarch or emperor
  38. czarina
    the wife or widow of a czar
  39. dacha
    Russian country house
  40. democracy
    a political system in which power lies in a body of citizens
  41. dictator
    a ruler who is unconstrained by law
  42. district
    a region marked off for administrative or other purposes
  43. Don River
    a European river in southwestern Russia
  44. economy
    the system of production and distribution and consumption
  45. empire
    the domain ruled by a single authoritative sovereign
  46. ethnic group
    people of the same race or nationality who share a distinctive culture
  47. Eurasia
    the land mass formed by the continents of Europe and Asia
  48. evergreen
    a plant having foliage that persists and remains green throughout the year
  49. export
    sell or transfer abroad
  50. factory
    a plant with facilities for manufacturing
  51. famine
    a severe shortage of food resulting in starvation and death
  52. federation
    political unity out of a number of separate states
  53. freshwater
    water that is not salty
  54. Georgia
    a republic in Asia Minor on the Black Sea separated from Russia by the Caucasus mountains; formerly an Asian soviet but became independent in 1991
  55. glasnost
    a Soviet policy allowing freer discussion of social problems
  56. governor
    the head of a state authority
  57. Grozny
    the capital of Chechnya in southwestern Russia
  58. gulag
    a Russian prison camp for political prisoners
  59. hydroelectric
    of or relating to or used in the production of electricity by waterpower
  60. immigration
    movement of people into a country or area
  61. imperial
    relating to or associated with an empire
  62. import
    bring in from abroad
  63. independence
    freedom from control or influence of another or others
  64. indigenous
    originating where it is found
  65. industrialization
    the development of commercial enterprise
  66. industry
    the action of making of goods and services for sale
  67. iron curtain
    the barrier between communist and democratic countries
  68. iron ore
    an ore from which iron can be extracted
  69. Irtysh River
    an Asian river that rises in the Altai Mountains in northern China and flows generally northwest to become a tributary of the Ob River
  70. Ivan the Terrible
    the first czar of Russia (1530-1584)
  71. Joseph Stalin
    Russian leader who succeeded Lenin as head of the Communist Party and created a totalitarian state by purging all opposition (1879-1953)
  72. Kamchatka Peninsula
    a peninsula in eastern Siberia
  73. Karl Marx
    founder of modern communism
  74. Kremlin
    citadel of Moscow, housing the offices of the Russian government
  75. Lake Baikal
    the largest freshwater lake in Asia or Europe and the deepest lake in the world
  76. Lena River
    a Russian river in Siberia
  77. Lenin
    Russian founder of the Bolsheviks and leader of the Russian Revolution and first head of the USSR (1870-1924)
  78. Leningrad
    a city in the European part of Russia
  79. life expectancy
    an expected time to live as calculated on the basis of statistical probabilities
  80. manufacturing
    the act of making something (a product) from raw materials
  81. Marxism
    theory that capitalism will be superseded by communism
  82. Mikhail Gorbachev
    Soviet statesman whose foreign policy brought an end to the Cold War and whose domestic policy introduced major reforms (born in 1931)
  83. mining
    the act of extracting ores or coal from the earth
  84. monarchy
    autocracy governed by a ruler who usually inherits authority
  85. Moscow
    a city of central European Russia
  86. mountainous
    containing many mountains
  87. natural gas
    a fossil fuel in the gaseous state
  88. natural resource
    material in the environment that can be used by people
  89. Nicholas II
    the last czar of Russia who was forced to abdicate in 1917 by the Russian Revolution; he and his family were executed by the Bolsheviks (1868-1918)
  90. Nikita Khrushchev
    Soviet statesman and premier who denounced Stalin
  91. Novosibirsk
    a city in the Asian part of Russia on the Ob river
  92. nuclear
    deriving destructive energy from releasing atomic energy
  93. Ob River
    a major river of western Siberia
  94. oil shale
    shale from which oil can be obtained by heating
  95. Pacific Ocean
    the largest ocean in the world
  96. peasant
    one of a class of agricultural laborers
  97. perestroika
    an economic policy adopted in the former Soviet Union
  98. permafrost
    ground that is permanently frozen
  99. Peter the Great
    czar of Russia who introduced ideas from western Europe to reform the government; he extended his territories in the Baltic and founded St. Petersburg (1682-1725)
  100. petroleum
    a dark oil consisting mainly of hydrocarbons
  101. plain
    an extensive tract of level, open land
  102. plateau
    a relatively flat raised area of land
  103. pogrom
    organized persecution of an ethnic group, especially Jews
  104. pollution
    contamination of the natural environment
  105. port
    where people and merchandise can enter or leave a country
  106. privatize
    move away from governmental or public ownership or control
  107. proletariat
    a social class comprising those who do manual labor
  108. province
    the territory in an administrative district of a nation
  109. purge
    an abrupt or sudden removal of a person or group
  110. raw material
    material suitable for manufacture or use or finishing
  111. republic
    a political system in which power lies in a body of citizens
  112. revolution
    the overthrow of a government by those who are governed
  113. ruble
    the basic unit of money in Russia
  114. Russian Federation
    a federation in northeastern Europe and northern Asia
  115. Russian Orthodox Church
    an independent church with its own Patriarch
  116. Russian Revolution
    the revolution against the czarist government which led to the abdication of Nicholas II and the creation of a provisional government in March 1917
  117. satellite
    man-made equipment that orbits around the earth or the moon
  118. Sea of Okhotsk
    an arm of the Pacific to the east of Asia
  119. secede
    withdraw from an organization or polity
  120. secession
    formal separation from an alliance or federation
  121. serf
    (Middle Ages) a person who is bound to the land and owned by the feudal lord
  122. Siberia
    a vast Asian region of Russia; famous for long cold winters
  123. Slav
    any member of the people of eastern Europe or Asian Russia who speak a Slavonic language
  124. smelt
    small trout-like silvery marine or freshwater food fish
  125. socialism
    an economic system based on state ownership of capital
  126. socialist
    a political advocate of state control of industry
  127. sovereignty
    the authority of a state to govern another state
  128. Soviet
    of or relating to or characteristic of the former Soviet Union or its people
  129. St. Petersburg
    a city in the European part of Russia
  130. steppe
    an extensive plain without trees
  131. sturgeon
    large primitive fishes valued for their flesh and roe
  132. superpower
    a country that can influence events throughout the world
  133. Tartar
    a member of the Mongolian people of central Asia who invaded Russia in the 13th century
  134. territory
    a region marked off for administrative or other purposes
  135. timber
    the wood of trees prepared for use as building material
  136. time zone
    a geographical region that uses the same standard time
  137. totalitarianism
    a form of government in which the ruler is unconstrained
  138. Transcaucasia
    a geographical region to the south of the Caucasus Mountains and to the north of Turkey that comprises Georgia and Armenia and Azerbaijan
  139. tsar
    a male monarch or emperor, especially in Russia
  140. tsarina
    the wife or widow of a czar
  141. tundra
    a vast treeless plain where subsoil is permanently frozen
  142. Ural Mountains
    a mountain range in western Russia extending from the Arctic to the Caspian Sea; forms part of the traditional boundary between Europe and Asia
  143. USSR
    a former communist country in eastern Europe and northern Asia; established in 1922; included Russia and 14 other soviet socialist republics (Ukraine and Byelorussia and others); officially dissolved 31 December 1991
  144. Vladimir Putin
    Russian statesman chosen as president of the Russian Federation in 2000; formerly director of the Federal Security Bureau (born in 1952)
  145. Vladivostok
    a seaport in the Asian part of Russia
  146. volcano
    a fissure in the earth's crust through which gases erupt
  147. Volga River
    a Russian river
  148. water pollution
    pollution of the water in rivers and lakes
  149. Yenisey River
    a Russian river in Siberia
Created on Tue Jan 17 13:11:00 EST 2017 (updated Fri Mar 31 14:16:40 EDT 2017)

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