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View synonyms for tundra

tundra

[ tuhn-druh, toon- ]

noun

  1. one of the vast, nearly level, treeless plains of the Arctic regions of Europe, Asia, and North America.


tundra

/ ˈtʌndrə /

noun

    1. a vast treeless zone lying between the ice cap and the timberline of North America and Eurasia and having a permanently frozen subsoil
    2. ( as modifier )

      tundra vegetation



tundra

/ tŭndrə /

  1. A cold, treeless, usually lowland area of far northern regions. The lower strata of soil of tundras are permanently frozen, but in summer the top layer of soil thaws and can support low-growing mosses, lichens, grasses, and small shrubs.


tundra

  1. A land area near the North Pole where the soil is permanently frozen a few feet underground.


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Notes

There are no trees on the tundra: the vegetation is primarily lichens and mosses.
Tundra is widespread in Lapland and in the far northern portions of Alaska , Canada , and the Soviet Union .

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Word History and Origins

Origin of tundra1

First recorded in 1840–45; from Russian túndra, from Sami tundar “hill”; compare Kola Sami tūndar “flat elevated area”; akin to Finnish tunturi “Arctic hill”

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Word History and Origins

Origin of tundra1

C19: from Russian, from Lapp tundar hill; related to Finnish tunturi treeless hill

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Example Sentences

Hold the Dark is set in the Alaskan wilderness, in an isolated village at the lip of the tundra.

The emissions of frozen CO2 and the tundra around the Arctic Ocean have already begun as it thaws.

The characteristic tundra animal is the reindeer, though musk-ox, woolly mammoth, and others were wide-spread at this time.

Tundra and steppe animals became more rare; a forest and meadow fauna took possession of Europe.

Cro-Magnon man had always been a reindeer hunter, accustomed and well adapted to the life and conditions of tundra or steppe.

Tundra, steppe, and forest had each its special types of animal as well as plant life.

On the tundra south of the mouth of the Yukon River an orphan boy once lived with his aunt.

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