Key terms & definitions

The United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification: an international agreement supporting action against desertification and the effects of drought.

The range within which the true value is reasonably expected to lie, arising from limitations in measurements, data, assumptions or models.

A limitation in how precisely a measurement, estimate or prediction is known.

A situation in which a business cannot reliably predict future events or their effects.

An unclear or indeterminate feature of an experience, such as uncertainty about a character’s identity.

A constitution whose rules are found in several sources rather than collected in one authoritative constitutional document.

An element found in nature without being chemically combined with another element.

Data whose storage size has not been reduced using a compression method.

A stimulus that produces a response naturally, without that response having to be learned.

In Freud’s theory, the part of the mind containing thoughts, memories and desires that are normally inaccessible to conscious awareness but can influence behaviour.

Contrary to the Constitution, the fundamental rules establishing how a country is governed and what powers its institutions possess.

Oil and gas sources that require additional extraction or processing techniques because the fuel cannot flow freely towards a well.

Unaltered from its original divine message.

A nucleus that has not yet undergone radioactive decay.

A value that has no defined numerical result, such as division by zero.

A state in which a performer's arousal is below the level needed for their best performance.

In Murray’s theory, a group at the bottom of society distinguished by welfare dependency and behaviour and values that he believed differed from mainstream expectations. This is a contested description, not simply another name for everyone in poverty.

A paint layer applied beneath the finishing colour coat to help produce an even, rich colour.

Having work but being unable to obtain enough hours, or doing work that does not fully use a person's skills.

Working fewer than full-time hours while being willing to work more hours if they become available.

An estimate less than the exact value.

The number of deaths of children before their fifth birthday per 1,000 live births.

Political activity conducted secretly because open organisation is prohibited or dangerous.

An assumption about how a probability situation works, such as whether selections are random or whether an object is replaced.

Digging beneath a fortification to weaken its foundations and cause part of it to collapse.

Not getting enough food energy to maintain good health.

Insufficient food energy or nutrients to maintain health, growth and development.

The inclusion of a social group less frequently or less prominently than its presence in society would suggest.

The inclusion of a social group less frequently or less prominently than other groups in media products.

An expression that deliberately makes an experience seem less dramatic or important than it might be.