habitat
- 01 B2 Upper Intermediate
the natural environment where a particular plant or animal usually lives.
the natural home or environment of an animal, plant, or other organism. Countable in most biological contexts.
Simple“The tropical rainforest is the natural habitat of many colourful birds.”
In context“The destruction of the coastal wetlands has led to a significant loss of habitat for several endangered species of migratory birds.”
Synonyms - 02 C1 Advanced
a place where people live, especially one designed for a specific purpose.
a place of habitation for humans; often used in urban planning or sociology to describe living environments.
Simple“The architect wanted to create a modern habitat that felt connected to nature.”
In context“The conference focused on creating sustainable urban habitats that could accommodate the rapid influx of residents from rural areas.”
Usage habitat loss
“Swiderski said upland Cornwall was a decent habitat for white storks.”
“As well as damage to natural habitats and animal life, Thomas warned loss of soil could increase flood risks, because it no longer acted as a "sponge" holding water on high ground.”
From Latin habitat (“it dwells, lives”), the 3rd person singular present active indicative form of habitō (“I live or dwell”). In Linnaeus and similar authors, the geographical ranges of species were customarily denoted in Latin by a sentence beginning with "Habitat", e.g. "Habitat in Europa" ("It lives in Europe"), and it thus became the convention to refer to the geographical range as the "habitat". Compare the English derivations of exit, floruit, ignoramus, and tenet from Latin finite verbs reanalyzed as English nouns.
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.