What does unsustainable mean?
Word: Unsustainable
Part of Speech: Adjective
Meaning: Unsustainable means that cannot carry on at the same level for long, often because it harms nature or uses up too much.
How do you spell unsustainable?
Syllables: un - sus - tain - a - ble
Tricky part: The middle part is said quickly, so students often lose a letter and write unsustanable. The vowel sound there needs two letters.
Watch out for: unsustanable, unsustainnable
Memory tip: Rain keeps falling in the middle of this word: the ai of rain is the ai of its middle part.
Unsustainable in a sentence
Example 1: Cutting down forests faster than they can grow is unsustainable.
Example 2: Our teacher said using a new plastic bottle every day is an unsustainable habit.
Example 3: Pumping out more groundwater than the rain can refill is unsustainable for farms.
Fun Fact
Earth Overshoot Day marks the date when people have used up all that nature can renew in a year; in recent years it has fallen in late July or early August.
Practise the CREST Way
Word Makeup
Choose the prefix that completes the word:
____sustainable
a) un
b) in
c) non
d) dis
Show answer
a) un. Sustainable takes un for its opposite, as suitable and stable do.
Mingle-Mangle
Form a meaningful word from the jumbled letters:
etsiaulasbnun
a) unattainable
b) unsuitable
c) unstable
d) unsustainable
Show answer
d) unsustainable. Unstable is far too short, unsuitable has only one n, and unattainable has two t's.
Word Cookie
Insert the correct pair of letters to form a word:
un_us_ainable
a) z, t
b) s, d
c) c, t
d) s, t
Show answer
d) s, t. The middle is the verb sustain, which starts with s and has a t before the ain.
Spell-o-Spell
Choose the correctly spelt word:
a) deforrestation
b) unsustainable
c) conservasion
d) poluted
Show answer
b) unsustainable. Each of the others slips once: polluted doubles the l, conservation ends in tion and deforestation keeps one r.
Multiple Choice Questions
1. Which of these habits is unsustainable?
a) switching off fans in empty rooms
b) fishing more than the sea can replace
c) carrying a cloth bag to the shop
d) planting a tree each monsoon
Show answer
b) fishing more than the sea can replace
2. A city's water use is called unsustainable. What does this warn?
a) the city has too many swimming pools
b) the water is the cleanest in the world
c) the supply may run out if nothing changes
d) the pipes have just been painted
Show answer
c) the supply may run out if nothing changes
