TOEFL® Vocabulary ebook

The adjective "ancient" describe something having lived or existed for a very long time or coming from, or belonging to a time that was long ago in the past.

Collocations

• ancient civilizations
• ancient times
• ancient cultures
• ancient peoples

Example sentences:

• Egyptian hieroglyphs were a formal writing system used by the ancient Egyptians.
• The practice was more common in ancient times than it is now.
• The people in the village still observe the ancient customs/traditions of their ancestors.
• Traditionally, ancient peoples had flourished in drier climates, where the centralized management of water resources through irrigation and other techniques formed the basis of society.
• Sometime around 4000 B.C., ancient Sumerian culture emerged on a floodplain along the Tigris and Euphrates rivers in what is now southern Iraq.
• The ancient Etruscan civilization emerged roughly 2,900 years ago in present-day Italy. ​

Definition: (Of a plant or animal) of indigenous origin or growth:

Example sentences:

• The species is native to South Africa, but is now widespread in south-western Australia, being especially abundant on roadsides and wasteland. 
• Spanish colonies were run under the system called encomienda, by which the Spanish crown granted colonists the right to demand tribute in gold of labor from native inhabitants.
• She's a native Californian.

Definition: Of, belonging to, or inherited from an ancestor or ancestors:

Example sentences:

• Although freshwater is the ancestral habitat for larval mosquitoes, multiple species independently evolved the ability to survive in saltwater.
• The unique estuarine has been the ancestral home for nearly 150 species of birds, many of which are migratory.

A descendant is someone who has come down from someone else, for example, an ancestor. You are a descendant of your grandparents. As an adjective, descendant means going down. Notice the root word, descend which means to go down. This is helpful to remember the meaning of the word. Let's look at example sentences:

• The first human inhabitants of Meso-America were descendants of Asian peoples who crossed the Bering land bridge.​
• The Native American Trade is the trade between Europeans, their North American descendants, and the indigenous people of North America known as Native Americans in the United States,

A dweller is a person or animal that lives in a particular place. Here are example sentences:

• The fact that elk now live almost solely in the Rocky Mountains would make it seem that they are mountain dweller.
• Many species on islands are very rare and endangered. Extinction is on the increase. As an example, 90 percent of bird species that are now extinct were island dwellers.

To inhabit is to live in a place to have a home in a place. Here are example sentences:

• Several hundred species of birds inhabit the island.
• This part of the country is inhabited by native tribes.
• The island is no longer inhabited. [=no people live there]

An inhabitant is a person who inhabits (or lives) in a particular place..

Here is an example sentence:

• The Adena peoples are the first known inhabitants in the modern-day United States territory.

Migratory means relating to the migration of people, birds, fish, or animals. Therefore, a migratory bird, fish, or animal is one that migrates every year.  Here are example sentences:

• The tribe was migratory and migrated in a similar way the birds moved to warmer places for the winter.
• Populations of many migratory birds depend not only on places to breed and spend the winter but also on the quality and continued availability of habitats along migration routes.
• Some species of ovenbirds are migratory, others are sedentary.

Definition: A period of a thousand years

Example sentences:

• Silver first came into use on a substantial scale during the 3rd millennium bc

A synonym for nomadic is migratory. Nomadic means anything moving around a lot. Certain times of birds are nomadic, because they move around several times a year depending on the weather. Nomadic people are ones that don’t stay in one place for too long. Used as an example,

• The tribe was nomadic and migrated in a similar way the birds to warmer places for the winter.

Primitive describe something belonging to a society in which people live in a very simple way, usually without industries or a writing system.  Here are example sentences:

• The child’s table manners were horrendous like he was a primitive boy.

• Right up until the mid-1950s there were still regions in Greenland where the Inuits lived in rather primitive, but highly adequate, dwellings.

• The simplest form of engraving is hand engraving, which has been in use almost since civilization began. Stone-age humans using this primitive form of engraving to make marks and drawings on cave walls, but the human hand is only strong enough to engrave some materials. 

Primitive also describe animals or plants belonging to a very early period in the development of an animal or plant. For example

• Gars are a primitive fish that inhabit placid waters of the Western Hemisphere.

A settlement is a group of people choosing to live somewhere together. A settlement is smaller than a town and may be a group of families from the same country who keep ties with their homeland. 

• The settlement in America was a home away from home for many of the Irish immigrants.
• A large Roman settlement has been discovered just outside the French town.
• Many Native Americans were killed during the settlement of the American West by Europeans in the 19th century. 

To subsist on something means to use (something) as a way to stay alive. Here are example sentences:

• The villagers subsist almost entirely on rice and fish.
• Hunters and gatherers subsisted on foraging and hunting.

An inhabitable place is a place that is suitable to live in. An example in a sentence:

•  As our Sun gets older, it will get larger and warmer, eventually leading to the Earth becoming inhabitable.

An uninhabitable place is a place that is not suitable to live in. An example in a sentence:

• If there's no roof then the house is uninhabitable.