habitat
habitat Lexical Profile
habitat Game Scores & Validity
• noun
The natural home or environment of an animal, plant, or other organism.
"Deforestation in the Amazon basin threatens the natural habitat of thousands of rare species."
A person's usual or preferred surroundings, or the social environment in which something typically exists or thrives.
"The quiet university library was the historian's favorite habitat during the academic year."
An artificial, pressurized structure or shelter designed to support human life in an extreme environment, such as under the sea or in outer space.
"Engineers designed an inflatable lunar habitat to protect astronauts from cosmic radiation."
Word Nuance & Usage
In ecology, 'habitat' refers to the physical environment or place where an organism lives (its 'address'), whereas 'niche' refers to the functional role the organism plays within that ecosystem (its 'profession').
• Nearby Words
Word Origin & Etymology
Borrowed in the late 18th century directly from Latin 'habitat', meaning 'it inhabits' or 'it dwells' (the third-person singular present indicative of 'habitare'), which was used as the standard opening word in Neo-Latin botanical and zoological descriptions to indicate where a species naturally occurred.