| A | B |
|---|
| dialect | a variation of a spoken language that is unique to a region or community |
| impressionism | a style of art where painters try to catch visual impressions made by color, light, and shadows |
| nationalize | to bring a business under state control |
| recession | an extended decline in business activity |
| confederation | a system of government in which individual political units keep their sovereignty but give limited power to a central government |
| reparation | money paid for war damages |
| inflation | a sharp, widespread rise in prices |
| lignite | a soft, brownish-black coal |
| dike | an embankment of earth and rock built to hold back water |
| polder | an area of low-lying land that has been reclaimed from the sea |
| decentralize | to transfer government power to smaller regions |
| canton | a political division or state; one of the states in Switzerland |
| neutral | not taking sides in a war |
| perishable good | a product that does not stay fresh for long |
| strip mining | the process whereby miners strip away the surface of the earth to lay bare the mineral deposits |
