Sanction has two nearly opposite meanings: to sanction can be to approve of something, but it can also mean to punish, or speak harshly to. Likewise, a sanction can be a punishment or approval. Very confusingââthe person who invented this word should be publicly sanctioned! See if you can guess the meaning of sanction in the following contexts.
Artist's rendering of concept for the Bering Strait bridge. The Bering Strait was last crossed by humans 20,000 years ago during the ice age, when ice formed a bridge between North America and Asia. Today, 47 miles and some of the harshest ocean and arctic conditions separate the two continents. However, there are many who believe there would be great economical, sociological, and political value in connecting the two land masses by bridge or tunnel.
This was the time of the Ice Age. During the Ice Age a lot of the earth's water was trapped in giant blankets of ice. In some places, glaciers were more than a mile high and could extend for thousands of miles. (These were some big ice cubes)! There was so much ice on earth that even the oceans began to go lower.