Growth of Our Nation: Chapter 11: Industry and Immigration, Lessons 1–3

24 words 141 learners

Learn words with Flashcards and other activities

Definition First
Print Flashcards

Other learning activities

Answer a few questions about each word. Use this to prep for your next quiz! Compete with other teams in real time to see who answers the most questions correctly! Test your spelling acumen. Read the definition, listen to the word and try spelling it!

Teaching tools

Create and assign quizzes to your students to test their vocabulary. Assign learning activities including Practice, Vocabulary Jams and Spelling Bees to your students, and monitor their progress in real-time.

Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. consumer
    a person who uses goods or services
    A consumer is someone who buys or uses goods and services.
  2. telegraph
    apparatus used to communicate at a distance over a wire
    In the mid-1800s, Samuel Morse had invented the telegraph. This device sent little bursts of electricity along wires.
  3. investor
    someone who commits capital to gain financial returns
    An investor is someone who puts money into a business to make a profit.
  4. profit
    excess of revenues over outlays in a given period of time
    Profit is the money an investor earns when the business does well.
  5. remain
    stay the same; stay in a certain state
    Inventors had tried for years to make a light bulb that would remain bright for more than a few minutes.
  6. competitor
    a company operating in the same market as another
    In 1884, he sold his invention to George Westinghouse, Edison's biggest competitor.
  7. urbanization
    the social process whereby cities grow
    The growth of cities is called urbanization.
  8. free enterprise
    an economy relying on market forces to allocate resources
    The economy of the United States is a free enterprise system. That means people are free to start their own businesses or do whatever work they want.
  9. entrepreneur
    someone who organizes a business venture
    An entrepreneur creates and runs a new business and takes on all the risks of the business.
  10. corporation
    a business firm recognized by law as a single body
    A corporation is a business owned by investors.
  11. stock
    capital raised by a corporation through the issue of shares
    Investors buy stock, a share of the company, to become partial owners.
  12. assembly line
    series of machines and workers that build step-by-step
    With an assembly line, a product is put together as it moves past a line of workers.
  13. refinery
    an industrial plant for purifying a crude substance
    A refinery turns oil into useful products, such as gasoline.
  14. monopoly
    a market in which there are many buyers but only one seller
    A monopoly is a company that has control of an entire industry.
  15. abundant
    present in great quantity
    Rich farmland produced abundant crops, and industries developed to process and package food.
  16. official
    having authority or sanction
    Every ten years the government makes an official count of all Americans.
  17. diversity
    noticeable variety
    These new cultures added to the diversity, or variety, of American life.
  18. prejudice
    a partiality preventing objective consideration of an issue
    Prejudice is unfair negative opinions about a group of people.
  19. oppression
    the state of being kept down by unjust use of authority
    Oppression is unjust treatment by a government.
  20. tenement
    a run-down apartment house barely meeting minimal standards
    A tenement is a building that has been divided into small apartments.
  21. union
    an employee organization that bargains with an employer
    A labor union is a group of workers who unite to demand better wages and working conditions.
  22. melting pot
    a place where diverse people, cultures, and ideas are mixed
    Israel Zangwill was a British writer who viewed the United States as a melting pot: a place where Europeans could "melt" old ideas and prejudices and be molded into a new people called Americans.
  23. overwhelming
    very intense
    Buildings were incredibly tall. Everywhere, people spoke different languages. The change could be overwhelming.
  24. renew
    reestablish on an improved basis
    The law was renewed in 1892 and then made permanent in 1902.
Created on Thu Jul 15 09:41:15 EDT 2021 (updated Wed Aug 25 09:14:10 EDT 2021)

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.