Words in the News

This Week's Word In The News 

ARID

DEFINITION:
Being without moisture; extremely dry; parched.

FOUND IN THE NEWS:
The unpredictability of illegal fireworks make them dangerous in the arid desert climate, said Riddle, who is also bureau commander of Metro’s Northeast Area Command.
The Las Vegas Review-Journal, 06/30/2025

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Words in the News Quiz
5 High School Words

Click on the correct answer in the quiz below.
Then see if you can find the word in your newspaper -- the print edition, the website or the digital edition and copy the sentence for context. NOTE: High School words are much harder to find!


1. Parameter

Lacking or marked by a lack of self-confidence; shy and timid.

Everyday; commonplace.

A circular strand of DNA in bacteria that contains the hereditary information necessary for cell life.

A factor that determines a range of variations; a boundary


2. Enfranchise

Government by a few, especially by a small faction of persons or families.

The iron-containing respiratory pigment in red blood cells of vertebrates.

The side of a right triangle opposite the right angle.

To endow with the rights of citizenship, especially the right to vote.


3. Circumlocution

To renounce under oath; forswear.

Logical incongruity

The use of unnecessarily wordy and indirect language.

Vanishing or likely to vanish like vapor.


4. Deleterious

Having a harmful effect; injurious.

To modify, as by shortening or simplifying or by skewing the content in a certain manner.

Any of numerous natural and synthetic compounds consisting of up to millions of repeated linked units,

Division into ordered groups or categories.


5. Orthography

Any of numerous natural and synthetic compounds consisting of up to millions of repeated linked units,

Division into ordered groups or categories.

Something done or paid to compensate or make amends.

The art or study of correct spelling according to established usage.


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Common Core State Standard
LS.CCS.4/5/6 Grades 3-12: Students are asked to determine the meaning of unknown and multiple-meaning words through multiple choice vocabulary quizzes. Quizzes are designed to help students demonstrate understanding of figurative language, word relationships and nuances in words, acquire and use accurately grade-appropriate general academic and domain-specific words, and gather vocabulary knowledge when considering a word or phrase important to comprehension or expression. Students are then asked to find the words within the newspaper and copy the sentence for context to its overall meaning or function in a sentence.