Key terms & definitions

A number that cannot be written as a fraction of two integers. Its decimal expansion continues forever without repeating.

A basic role that Parsons argued the family continued to perform and which could not be reduced further: primary socialisation or stabilisation of adult personalities.

A bone with a complex shape that does not fit the long, short or flat categories, suited to roles such as protection and muscle attachment.

Movement across a border outside the destination country's normal entry rules. This does not, by itself, determine whether someone needs refugee protection.

Damage that cannot be repaired sufficiently to restore the lost tissue or function.

Supplying land with water through channels or other artificial means so that crops can grow.

The artificial supply of water to crops.

Jesus, the son of Maryam, whom Muslims honour as a human prophet and messenger of Allah.

The International Security Assistance Force, established under UN authority in December 2001 initially to help maintain security in Kabul.

The International Security Assistance Force: an international military mission in Afghanistan led by NATO from August 2003 until its completion in December 2014.

The equal right of citizens to speak in the Athenian Assembly.

An Egyptian goddess associated with magic, healing and protection; in Egyptian mythology she was the wife of Osiris and mother of Horus.

The International Society for Krishna Consciousness, a Hindu movement centred on devotion to Krishna.

The religion followed by Muslims, who believe in one God and recognise Muhammad as God's prophet.

Submission to Allah. The word shares an Arabic root with salaam, meaning peace.

Someone who believes society and government should follow a strict interpretation of Islamic religious law and accepts violence as a means of achieving this.

Prejudice, hostility or discrimination directed against Muslims or people perceived to be Muslim.

Ibrahim’s son, traditionally identified by Muslims as the son involved in the sacrifice story.

A branch of Shi’a Islam which recognises a line of Imams that differs from the Twelver line after the first six shared Imams.

The chain of narrators through whom a Hadith report has been transmitted.

A line on a weather chart joining places with equal atmospheric pressure.

Keeping infected people apart from others to reduce the risk of disease spreading.

The separation of populations so that they do not interbreed and exchange alleles.

Separation from other people, whether physically, socially or emotionally; it may be chosen or imposed.

A policy of avoiding commitments that could draw a country into other countries’ conflicts.

The idea that some families, particularly nuclear families, have become distant from or separated from their wider family.

A line on a map joining points with the same value of a measured variable.

The difference in value between neighbouring isolines, such as a height difference of 10 metres between contours.

Compounds with the same molecular formula but different arrangements of atoms.

A muscle contraction that produces tension without changing the muscle's length.