9th Grade World Geography Vocabulary Help: Words and Definitions

9th Grade World Geography Vocabulary

Vocabulary Words and Definitions

To help with you study world geography, 18 common vocabulary words and their definitions are provided below. You may find it helpful to use flashcards to review. Alternatively, test yourself by folding a piece of paper in half. Write the terms on one side of the fold and the definitions on the other. Then, check your answers to see if you were correct.

Savanna (suh-van-uh)

-Noun

1. An area of land covered with tall grass, trees and shrubs.

Ecosystem (ek-oh-sis-tuhm, ee-koh-)

-Noun

1. A system made up of plants and animals that depend on each other for survival.

Equator (ih-kwey-ter)

-Noun

1. An imaginary line that splits the Earth into its southern and northern hemispheres.

Latitude (lat-i-tood, -tyood)

-Noun

1. The horizontal lines on a globe used to locate places in the north and south.

Precipitation (pre-sip-i-tey-shuhn)

-Noun

1. A weather occurrence where water drops from the sky in the form of rain, hail, sleet or snow.

Drought (drout)

-Noun

1. A dry weather period where there is little or no rainfall.

Tundra (tuhn-druh)

-Noun

1. The circle of flat lands around the Artic Ocean that do not have trees.

Permafrost (pur-muh-frawst, -frost)

-Noun

1. A piece of land that is frozen so deeply that only the surface thaws occasionally in the summer.

Landscape (land-skeyp)

-Noun

1. The unique shape and features of a piece of land.

Rural (roor-ull)

-Adjective

1. Refers to the country and the characteristics of the country, such as the people or agriculture.

Sediment (sed-uh-muhnt)

-Noun

1. Minerals or other organic manner made by weather elements, such as ice, water or air.

Urbanization (ur-buh-buh-zey-shuhn)

-Noun

1. The process of a rural area becoming more populated and taking on the characteristics of a city

Projection (pruh-jek-shuhn)

-Noun

1. A prediction about future occurrences based on the knowledge gained by past events and tests.

Resource (ree-sawrs)

-Noun

1. Essential items and elements that help to preserve life, such as food and water.

Diffusion (dih-fyoo-zhuhn)

-Noun

1. The spread of one society's culture to other areas.

Elevation (el-uh-vey'shuhn)

-Noun

1. The measured altitude of a land mass above or below sea level.

Equinox (ee-kwuh-noks)

-Noun

1. Two specific annual days where the hours in the day are equal to the hours at night. The days signify the start of the spring and fall seasons.

Biosphere (bahy-uh-sfeer)

-Noun

1. Any earthly location where animal and human life are found, which includes the atmosphere, lithosphere and hydrosphere.