Global Issues — C1 Essential Words

migration /maɪˈɡreɪʃən/ noun C1 Society

Meaning: The movement of people or animals from one place to another, often across countries or seasons, to live or find food and safety.

Example: Migration changed both countries.

Another example: The birds' migration covers 3,000 miles.

Collocations: migration of · migration patterns · mass migration

Synonyms: movement, relocation, exodus (dramatic)

Antonyms: settlement

Word family: migrate (v) · migrant (n) · migratory (adj)

⚠ Common mistake: Birds and people share it — seasonal journeys and life journeys. Its person-word 'migrant' differs in tone from 'immigrant' (arriving) and 'emigrant' (leaving): direction decides.

🗣 In spoken American English: Its data dashboards track humanity's largest ongoing story.

Register: Formal — society essential.

refugee /ˌrefjuˈdʒiː/ noun C1 Society

Meaning: A person who has been forced to leave their country to escape war, persecution, or natural disaster, and seeks safety elsewhere.

Example: Refugees crossed the border at night.

Another example: The camp housed 5,000 refugees.

Collocations: refugees from · a refugee camp · refugee crisis

Synonyms: asylum seeker, displaced person, exile

Word family: refugees (n pl) · refuge (n — the safe place)

⚠ Common mistake: From French for 'shelter' (refuge). The word carries legal status, not just sympathy — countries owe refugees protection under treaties.

🗣 In spoken American English: Its camps grow into cities with schools and markets of their own.

Register: Formal — society essential.

urbanization /ˌɜːrbənəˈzeɪʃən/ noun C1 Society

Meaning: The process of areas becoming cities and of more people living in cities than in the countryside.

Example: Urbanization transformed the country in fifty years.

Another example: Rapid urbanization strains housing.

Collocations: urbanization of · rapid urbanization · urbanization rate

Synonyms: city growth, urban development, metropolitan growth

Antonyms: ruralization (rare)

Word family: urbanize (v) · urban (adj)

⚠ Common mistake: American Z spelling again. For the first time in history (2008), most humans became city people — this word's milestone.

🗣 In spoken American English: Its speed in Asia writes a new skyline biography yearly.

Register: Formal — society essential.

overpopulation /ˌəʊvərˌpɒpjəˈleɪʃən/ noun C1 Society

Meaning: The condition of having too many people in a place for its resources — food, water, housing, and services.

Example: Overpopulation strains the city's water supply.

Another example: The island faces overpopulation.

Collocations: overpopulation in · overpopulation problems · overpopulation and resources

Synonyms: overcrowding, population pressure, density crisis

Antonyms: underpopulation

Word family: overpopulated (adj) · population (n)

⚠ Common mistake: The word argues as it describes — demographers split on whether the problem is numbers or distribution. Both sides cite this noun.

🗣 In spoken American English: Its opposite now headlines in shrinking towns across rich countries.

Register: Formal — society essential.

sanitation /ˌsænɪˈteɪʃən/ noun C1 Society

Meaning: The systems that keep places clean and healthy — clean water, toilets, sewers, and waste removal.

Example: Clean water and sanitation save millions.

Another example: The camp needs better sanitation.

Collocations: sanitation systems · water and sanitation · poor sanitation

Synonyms: hygiene systems, clean water systems, sewage

Word family: sanitary (adj) · sanitize (v)

⚠ Common mistake: The unglamorous hero of public health: more lives saved than most medicines. Its workers and engineers are cities' invisible army.

🗣 In spoken American English: Its absence is measured in preventable disease statistics.

Register: Formal — society essential.

poverty /ˈpɒvərti/ noun C1 Society

Meaning: The state of being very poor — lacking enough money for basic needs like food, housing, and clothing.

Example: The program lifts families out of poverty.

Another example: Poverty rates fell this decade.

Collocations: poverty in · live in poverty · poverty line

Synonyms: hardship, deprivation, poorness

Antonyms: wealth, prosperity

Word family: poor (adj) · poverty-stricken (adj)

⚠ Common mistake: Its measure is a line ('the poverty line') — incomes below it count officially. Charities and economists argue its definitions as seriously as its cures.

🗣 In spoken American English: 'Poverty of imagination' borrows it for minds, not wallets.

Register: Formal — society essential.

famine /ˈfæmɪn/ noun C1 Society

Meaning: A severe shortage of food across a region that causes many people to suffer hunger and death.

Example: Drought brought famine to the region.

Another example: Aid workers fought the famine.

Collocations: a famine · famine relief · famine struck

Synonyms: starvation, food crisis, hunger catastrophe

Antonyms: plenty

Word family: famines (n pl)

⚠ Common mistake: Feast's dark opposite ('feast or famine' describes boom-and-bust lives far from food too). Officially declared by strict UN measures — the word itself is a siren.

🗣 In spoken American English: Its photos historically moved the world's conscience and donations.

Register: Formal — society essential.

epidemic /ˌepɪˈdemɪk/ noun C1 Society

Meaning: A disease spreading quickly among many people in an area at the same time; also a sudden rapid spread of something bad (an epidemic of crime).

Example: The flu epidemic closed schools.

Another example: An epidemic of theft hit the district.

Collocations: an epidemic of · epidemic spread · flu epidemic

Synonyms: outbreak, plague (historical), surge

Word family: epidemics (n pl) · epidemic (adj)

⚠ Common mistake: Epidemic (one region) graduates to PANDEMIC when it takes the world — 2020 taught everyone the distinction. Its metaphor branch covers crime waves and even loneliness now.

🗣 In spoken American English: Its curves ('flatten the curve') entered everyday speech permanently.

Register: Formal — society essential.

conflict /ˈkɒnflɪkt/ noun C1 Society

Meaning: A serious disagreement or fighting between people, groups, or countries; also a clash between ideas, schedules, or duties.

Example: The conflict lasted a decade.

Another example: There's a conflict in my schedule.

Collocations: conflict between · armed conflict · conflict resolution

Synonyms: dispute, war, clash

Antonyms: peace, agreement

Word family: conflicts (n pl) · conflict (v — stressed differently) · conflicting (adj)

⚠ Common mistake: Its verb stresses the second syllable (con-FLICT) against the noun's first (CON-flict). Diplomats 'resolve' it; calendars suffer its small daily versions.

🗣 In spoken American English: 'Conflict of interest' is its ethics-branch — money quietly arguing with duty.

Register: Formal — society essential.

shortage /ˈʃɔːrtɪdʒ/ noun C1 Society

Meaning: A situation where there is not enough of something that is needed (a water shortage, a housing shortage, a shortage of nurses).

Example: The drought caused a water shortage.

Another example: There's a shortage of teachers.

Collocations: a shortage of · shortage in · housing shortage

Synonyms: lack, scarcity, deficit

Antonyms: surplus, abundance

Word family: shortages (n pl) · short (adj)

⚠ Common mistake: Economics' weather word — everything from chips to nurses gets one eventually. Its twin SURPLUS is the problem of too much, rarely complained about as loudly.

🗣 In spoken American English: Its announcements move prices before the shelves even empty.

Register: Formal — society essential.