SKIP TO CONTENT

A World of Words: Canada - Introductory

O Canada! Review this vocabulary list and explore the largest country in North America. You'll learn about the geography of Canada's provinces and territories, natural resources such as lumber and minerals, and the Canadian government, including parliament and the prime minister.
98 words 3922 learners

Learn words with Flashcards and other activities

Full list of words from this list:

  1. aboriginal
    relating to people inhabiting a region from the beginning
  2. acid rain
    precipitation with toxic gas emissions combined with water
  3. agriculture
    the practice of cultivating the land or raising stock
  4. Alberta
    one of the three prairie provinces in western Canada
  5. Appalachian Mountains
    a mountain range in the eastern United States extending from Quebec to the Gulf of Mexico; a historic barrier to early westward expansion of the United States
  6. arctic
    extremely cold
  7. Arctic Ocean
    ice covered waters surrounding the North Pole
  8. Atlantic Ocean
    the 2nd largest ocean
  9. autonomy
    political independence
  10. bilingual
    using or knowing two languages
  11. border
    a line that indicates a boundary
  12. boreal
    toward or located in the north
  13. British Columbia
    a province in western Canada
  14. Calgary
    the largest city in southern Alberta
  15. Canadian dollar
    the basic unit of money in Canada
  16. Canadian Shield
    a large plateau that occupies more than 40% of the land area of Canada; it extends from the Great Lakes northward to the Arctic Ocean
  17. chamber
    a deliberative or legislative or administrative assembly
  18. climate
    the weather in some location averaged over a period of time
  19. coast
    the shore of a sea or ocean
  20. coastal
    of or relating to the shoreline
  21. colonialism
    exploitation by a stronger country of a weaker one
  22. colony
    a geographical area controlled by a distant country
  23. commonwealth
    a political system in which power lies in a body of citizens
  24. curling
    a game played on ice in which heavy stones with handles are slid toward a target
  25. deforestation
    the state of being clear of trees
  26. democratic
    based upon the principles of social equality
  27. dominion
    a region marked off for administrative or other purposes
  28. economy
    the system of production and distribution and consumption
  29. export
    sell or transfer abroad
  30. extraction
    taking out something
  31. federal
    of a government with central and regional authorities
  32. forestry
    the science of developing and caring for wooded areas
  33. fossil fuel
    energy-producing substance derived from preserved organisms
  34. French Canadian
    a Canadian descended from early French settlers and whose native language is French
  35. glacier
    a slowly moving mass of ice
  36. gold rush
    a large influx of people to an area rich in precious metal
  37. habitable
    fit to be lived in
  38. highland
    elevated (e.g., mountainous) land
  39. Hudson Bay
    an inland sea in northern Canada
  40. ice hockey
    a game played on an ice rink by two opposing teams of six skaters each who try to knock a flat round puck into the opponents' goal with angled sticks
  41. immigration
    movement of people into a country or area
  42. import
    bring in from abroad
  43. independent
    not controlled by outside forces
  44. indigenous
    originating where it is found
  45. industrialization
    the development of commercial enterprise
  46. Inuit
    a member of a people inhabiting the Arctic
  47. Labrador
    the mainland part of the province of Newfoundland and Labrador in the eastern part of the large Labrador-Ungava Peninsula in northeastern Canada
  48. Lake Erie
    the 4th largest of the Great Lakes
  49. Lake Huron
    the 2nd largest of the Great Lakes
  50. Lake Ontario
    the smallest of the Great Lakes
  51. Lake Superior
    the largest freshwater lake in the world
  52. livestock
    any animals kept for use or profit
  53. lumbermill
    a mill for dressing logs and lumber
  54. Manitoba
    one of the three prairie provinces in central Canada
  55. manufacturing
    the act of making something (a product) from raw materials
  56. maritime
    bordering on or living near the sea
  57. mining
    the act of extracting ores or coal from the earth
  58. mineral
    a solid inorganic substance occurring in nature
  59. monarch
    a nation's ruler usually by hereditary right
  60. Montreal
    a city in southern Quebec province on the Saint Lawrence River; the largest city in Quebec and 2nd largest in Canada; the 2nd largest French-speaking city in the world
  61. Native American
    pertaining to Indigenous people in living in the Americas or to their culture or languages
  62. natural gas
    a fossil fuel in the gaseous state
  63. natural resource
    material in the environment that can be used by people
  64. Newfoundland
    an island in the north Atlantic
  65. North America
    a continent (the third largest) in the western hemisphere connected to South America by the Isthmus of Panama
  66. Northwest Territories
    a large territory in northwestern Canada
  67. Nova Scotia
    the Canadian province in the Maritimes consisting of the Nova Scotia peninsula and Cape Breton Island; French settlers who called the area Acadia were exiled to Louisiana by the British in the 1750s and their descendants are know as Cajuns
  68. Nunavut
    an Arctic territory in northern Canada created in 1999 and governed solely by the Inuit; includes the eastern part of what was the Northwest Territories and most of the islands of the Arctic Archipelago
  69. Ontario
    a prosperous and industrialized province in central Canada
  70. Ottawa
    the capital of Canada
  71. Pacific Ocean
    the largest ocean in the world
  72. parliament
    a legislative assembly in certain countries
  73. parliamentary democracy
    a democracy having a parliament
  74. permafrost
    ground that is permanently frozen
  75. plateau
    a relatively flat raised area of land
  76. prairie
    a treeless grassy plain
  77. precipitation
    the falling to earth of any form of water
  78. prime minister
    head of government, especially of a parliamentary democracy
  79. Prince Edward Island
    an island in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence
  80. province
    the territory in an administrative district of a nation
  81. Quebec
    the largest province of Canada
  82. runoff
    the occurrence of surplus liquid exceeding capacity
  83. Saskatchewan
    one of the three prairie provinces in west central Canada
  84. secession
    formal separation from an alliance or federation
  85. separatist
    an advocate of secession or independence from a larger group
  86. settler
    a person who resides in a new colony or country
  87. St. Lawrence River
    a North American river
  88. technology
    the practical application of science to commerce or industry
  89. telecommunication
    (often plural) the branch of electrical engineering concerned with the technology of electronic communication at a distance
  90. territory
    a region marked off for administrative or other purposes
  91. timber
    the wood of trees prepared for use as building material
  92. topography
    the configuration of a surface and its features
  93. Toronto
    the provincial capital and largest city in Ontario
  94. transportation
    a facility for the movement of passengers or goods
  95. tundra
    a vast treeless plain where subsoil is permanently frozen
  96. urbanization
    the social process whereby cities grow
  97. Vancouver
    a port city in southwestern British Columbia on an arm of the Pacific Ocean opposite Vancouver Island; Canada's chief Pacific port and third largest city
  98. Yukon
    a territory in northwestern Canada
Created on Fri Jan 13 14:53:45 EST 2017 (updated Wed Apr 05 16:54:47 EDT 2017)

Sign up now (it’s free!)

Whether you’re a teacher or a learner, Vocabulary.com can put you or your class on the path to systematic vocabulary improvement.