Drought

How it is used

A frequent word in news, insurance claims and research. Crops suffer from drought stress; breeders develop drought-tolerant varieties; governments declare drought emergencies and pay drought relief.

Example sentences

1. The 2021 drought cut wheat production in Central Anatolia sharply.

2. We are testing drought-tolerant barley varieties on dryland fields.

Common collocations

• severe drought
• drought stress
• drought-tolerant
• drought conditions
• drought relief

Related terms

• irrigationThe artificial supply of water to land or crops through channels, pipes, sprinklers or drippers, used when rain alone is not enough.
• groundwaterWater stored underground in soil and rock layers called aquifers, which farmers pump up through wells for irrigation and livestock.
• evapotranspirationThe total water lost from a field by evaporation from the soil surface plus transpiration through plant leaves; it shows how much water a crop uses.
• fallowDescribing farmland that is left without a crop for a season or longer, so that it can store moisture, recover fertility or be cleaned of weeds.
• crop insuranceInsurance that pays farmers compensation when their crops are damaged or their yields fall because of hail, frost, drought, flood or other covered risks.

This word in other fields

The same English word can have a different meaning in another field:

• drought · Environment & Climate

More terms: Irrigation and Water

• drip irrigation
• sprinkler irrigation
• furrow irrigation
• irrigation scheduling
• fertigation