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

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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. Introspection

Inspiring awe, admiration, or wonder

A member of an irregular, usually indigenous military or paramilitary unit operating in small bands in occupied territory to harass and undermine the enemy

Any of several rod-shaped bacteria, of the genus Salmonella, that cause food poisoning and other diseases.

Self-examination.


2. Quarantine

To abstain from or act together in abstaining from using, buying, or dealing with as an expression of protest or disfavor or as a means of coercion

A movement or procedure involving skill and dexterity.

To move in waves or with a smooth, wavelike motion.

Enforced isolation or restriction of free movement imposed to prevent the spread of contagious disease.


3. Accentuate

To stress or emphasize; intensify

A diffuse mass of interstellar dust or gas or both, visible as luminous patches or areas of darkness

The act of reasoning from factual knowledge or evidence.

A treeless area between the icecap and the tree line of Arctic regions, having a permanently frozen subsoil and supporting low-growing vegetation


4. Protagonist

A metric unit of length equal to 1,000 meters (0.62 mile).

The main character in a drama or other literary work.

To honor the memory of with a ceremony

The distance that light travels in a vacuum in one year.


5. Tsunami

A closed plane figure bounded by three or more line segments.

To swing indecisively from one course of action or opinion to another.

A very large and destructive wave, generally caused by a tremendous disturbance in the ocean, such as an undersea earthquake or volcanic eruption.

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


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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.