Tundra

Definitions

1. A surname from Romanian.
2. A flat and treeless Arctic biome.
   countable, uncountable
3. A long stretch of something, such as time.
   countable, uncountable

Equivalents

Examples

“The hut's walls rose without difficulty, and everything went smoothly until the problem of the roof confronted me. Of what use⟳ the four walls without a roof? And of what could a roof be made? There were the spare⟳ oars, very true. They would serve⟳ as roof-beams; but with what was I to cover⟳ them? Moss would never do. Tundra grass was impracticable. We needed the sail⟳ for the boat, and the tarpaulin had begun to leak.”

“His wife and he were childhood sweethearts; he had known her for 25 years. (He will call⟳ her “my wife” throughout, just as he cannot bear⟳ to name⟳ his two sons, however carefully and lovingly he will eventually describe⟳ them. They remain⟳ “the older one” and “the younger one.”) There are tundras of time for him to cross and cross again as he recalls their life together and its sudden end⟳: a quarter‐century of quotidian love⟳ and bruises and the ultimate estrangement of long familiarity.”

“When you stood at the gulf of unknowing, / When you saw⟳ the great tundra of time, / And you cried for the winds to come⟳ blowing, / And you called a monsoon from the tides of the moon, / 'Cause the roads were all dusty and dry.”

“Putting on paper exactly what steps I need⟳ to take⟳ for each project does promote⟳ peace of mind⟳, I find⟳. And in my eagerness to tick items off on my "next action" lists, my productivity ramps up. Still, there are days of backsliding. I go to research⟳ something online, but once out on the wild Web, lose⟳ my way—and vast tundras of time—wandering further away from whatever I was looking for with each click of the mouse.”

“We parcel up time into years and months and days because without compartmentalisation the tundra of time is impossible to navigate⟳.”

CEFR level