Words in the News

This Week's Word In The News 

SUREFIRE

DEFINITION:
Certain or likely, especially to succeed.

FOUND IN THE NEWS:
Kirby taught himself how to count cards, a surefire way to get barred from gambling at a casino, “raking in money on trips to Atlantic City and Las Vegas,” the article stated.
The Las Vegas Review-Journal, 05/04/2026

Generate your own quiz
Select a grade level
 Elementary
 Middle School
 High School
Select a quiz type
 By words
 By Definitions
Select how many questions
5   10   15   20  

Words in the News Quiz
5 Middle 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. Formidable

Inspiring awe, admiration, or wonder

To cringe in fear

One who habitually takes advantage of the generosity of others without making any useful return.

Of, relating to, or occurring in the night


2. Marsupial

One who habitually takes advantage of the generosity of others without making any useful return.

Of, relating to, or occurring in the night

The repetition of the same sounds or of the same kinds of sounds at the beginning of words or in stressed syllables

Any of various nonplacental mammals, including kangaroos, opossums, bandicoots, and wombats, found principally in Australia and the Americas.


3. Strategy

Selecting or employing individual elements from a variety of sources, systems, or styles

The right or privilege of voting; franchise.

Using or marked by the use of few words; terse or concise.

The science and art of using all the forces of a nation to execute approved plans as effectively as possible during peace or war.


4. Participle

The quality or state of being tranquil; serenity.

A form of a verb that in some languages, such as English, can function independently as an adjective.

One that takes in everything available, as with the mind.

A person authorized to act as representative for another; a deputy.


5. Ultraviolet

Of or relating to the range of invisible radiation wavelengths from about 4 nanometers, on the border of the x-ray region, to about 380 nanometers, just beyond the violet in the visible spectrum.

One thing conceived as representing another; a symbol.

To move back or away from a limit, point, or mark

To proclaim publicly


Get more Quizzes 

 Elementary School    Middle School   High School  

 By Word     By Definition    5  10  15  20 Questions

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.