Sustainability
What it means
The ability to continue without exhausting people or resources.
Reach for it when naming the capacity to continue without exhausting people, finances, or natural resources
Solar power improved the farm's sustainability.
Words to choose between 7
| everyday | |
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| warm | |
| professional |
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| formal |
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everyday
Fits when resistance to wear determines how long something lasts
Careful Durability covers objects well but not fair resource use or human workload.
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warm
long-term balance
Fits when accessible language should stress needs held in proportion over time
Careful The phrase is broad and lacks sustainability's established environmental meaning.
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professional
conservation
Fits when reducing loss of natural or cultural resources is the action
Careful Conservation is one practice; sustainability is the broader ability to continue.
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professional
continuity
Fits when uninterrupted operation or succession is the concern
Careful A harmful system can have continuity without being sustainable.
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professional
Fits when continued practical or financial feasibility is the test
Careful A profitable activity can be viable while damaging people or resources.
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formal
renewability
Fits when a resource can replenish at the rate it is used
Careful Renewability says little about affordability, labor, or total consumption.
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formal
Fits when recovery after disruption is the critical capacity
Careful Resilience addresses shocks, while sustainability addresses ordinary continuation too.
Opposites 3
- depletion
- unsustainability
- exhaustion
Common phrases 3
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environmental sustainability
Environmental sustainability shaped every material choice in the renovation.
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financial sustainability
A membership model improved the archive's financial sustainability.
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long-term sustainability
Protected rest time is essential to the service's long-term sustainability.
Word family 1
Definitions and examples are written for this site. How words are chosen Recording: Naomi Persephone Amethyst, American accent, from Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0 Updated