Glossary

poacher

(pō-chur) n. A poacher is a person who hunts plants or animals illegally. Poachers are a problem to endangered wildlife.

politics

(pol-i-tiks) n. Politics are people’s beliefs about government and its plans. People with similar politics came to the convention.

pollution

(pul-lü-shun) n. Pollution is waste, chemicals, and gases that have a harmful effect. Air and water pollution hurt living things.

population

(pop-yū-lā-shun) n. Population is the number of plants or animals in a group. The human population of Earth is more than six billion.

• position

(puh-zi-shun) n. A position is a viewpoint, side, or placement. His position is against serving hot lunches at school.

• positive

(pahz-u-tiv) adj. Positive means good or hopeful. If you have a positive attitude, you think things are good.

preach

(prēch) v. To preach is to tell people what you believe is right. The speaker preached the importance of kindness to all.

predator

(pre-duh-tur) n. A predator is an animal that eats other animals for food. Lions and tigers are predators.

• predict

(prē-dikt) v. When you predict, you guess about something or tell what will happen. We will predict what happens next in the story.

prejudice

(prej-ū-dis) n. If you have prejudice, you judge things and people before you know about them. Many people fought to end prejudice.

prey

(prā) n. Prey is an animal that other animals eat. A mouse is prey for a snake.

pride

(prīd) n. When you feel pride, you feel good about something you or someone else does. The boy felt pride when he graduated from high school.

problem

(prahb-lum) n. A problem is something you have to solve or fix. You can solve a math problem.

• process

(präs-es) n. A process is a series of actions that lead to a result. The process of building the house took a year.

• promote

(prō-mōt) v. To promote something is to tell others that it is a good thing. The firemen promote safety to the students.

• propaganda

(prop-u-gan-da) n. Propaganda is the use of faulty methods to persuade an audience. The report was propaganda and not based on facts.

property

(prop-er-tē) n. Property is what someone owns, like a house or land. People can sell their property to someone else.

protest

(prō-test) v. To protest something means to show you are against it. Americans protested unfair treatment of African Americans.

punishment

(pun-ish-ment) n. A punishment is a penalty caused by doing something bad. We were noisy during class, so as punishment we had to stay after school.

• purpose

(pur-pus) n. A purpose is a reason for doing something. His purpose for going to the store was to buy milk.

Q

quest

(kwest) n. A quest is a journey or trip to find something. The knight is on a quest to find the dragon’s cave.

R

• react

(rē-akt) v. To react means to show your feelings about something. A person may react in fear to a scary movie.

reality

(rē-al-it-ē) n. Reality is what people actually experience in life. I wish I could have whatever I liked, but the reality is that I must work to pay for things.

recall

(rē-kawl) v. To recall means to remember. The student tried to recall the answer to a test question.

recite

(ri-sīt) v. When you recite something, you are speaking or reading something aloud in public. Every morning before class, we recite the Pledge of Allegiance.

refugee

(ref-yu-jē) n. A person who must leave his or her home or country to be safe is a refugee. A refugee may have to live with just a few belongings.

refuse

(ri-fūz) v. To refuse means to choose not to do something. The child refused to eat any more food.

• Academic Vocabulary