Essential Vocabulary for Sustainable Living and Downshifting

Understanding the Rat Race and Downshifting

Rat race: A frustrating, hard-to-break financial lifestyle. Antonia is tired of the rat race; now she is living in the countryside.

Key Vocabulary for Rural Living

• Fleetingly: Short or quick. He wondered fleetingly if she knew.
• Live off the land: To eat only the food that one produces from the land. The homeless man wandered about, living off the land.
• Reliant: Dependent on something.
• Have a stab at: To try to do something, or to try an activity that you have not done before.
• Wholesome: Good for you, and likely to improve your life either physically, morally, or emotionally.
• Scratch a living: To manage to earn only just enough money to live (as a farmer).
• Kids in tow: Accompanying. He arrived at the party with two ladies in tow.
• Downshift: To reduce the speed, rate, or intensity of something.
• Chronicled: A written record of historical events.
• Smallholders: Someone who owns a smallholding.
• Smallholding: An area of land used for farming that is much smaller than a typical farm.
• Keen to get: Very interested. They were very keen to start work as soon as possible.
• Frugally: Careful when using money or food. What your office needs is a frugal manager who can save you money.
• Granted: An amount of money given especially by the government for a special purpose.
• Singletons: A person who does not have a romantic or sexual partner.
• Boreholes: A deep hole made in the ground when looking for oil, gas, or water.
• Haymaking: Taking full advantage of an opportunity while it lasts, or cutting grass and curing it to make hay.
• Hay: Grass that is cut, dried, and used as animal food.
• Wholefoods: Food that has not had any of its natural features taken away or any artificial substances added.
• Bulk: Something or someone that is very large.
• Stalemate: A situation in which neither group involved in an argument can win or get an advantage.
• Slog: To work hard over a long period, especially doing work that is difficult or boring.
• Glimpse: To see something or someone for a very short time or only partly.
• Relentless: Continuing in a severe or extreme way.
• Like-minded: People who are described as like-minded share the same opinions, ideas, or interests.
• Drawback: A disadvantage or the negative part of a situation.
• Trade-off: A balancing of two opposing situations or qualities, both of which are desired.
• Forerunner: Something or someone that acts as an early and less advanced model for what will appear in the future.
• Fallings out: An argument.
• Resilience: The quality of being able to return quickly to a previous good condition after problems.
• Heartening: Making you feel happier and more positive.
• Shed: A small building, usually made of wood, used for storing things.