Words in the News

This Week's Word In The News 

COERCE

DEFINITION:
To persuade someone forcefully to do something that they are unwilling to do.

FOUND IN THE NEWS:
Lina Kahn, a former chair of the Federal Trade Commission, said that Google was using its “search monopoly to coerce schools” into adopting its AI.
►The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 11/09/2026

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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. Wretched

► In a deplorable state of distress or misfortune; miserable.

► Similarity in some respects between things that are otherwise dissimilar.

► A prohibition by a government on certain or all trade with a foreign nation

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


2. Hologram

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

► The pattern produced on a photosensitive medium that has been exposed by holography and then photographically developed.

► A picture or decorative design made by setting small colored pieces, as of stone or tile, into a surface.

► A cult or religious movement, a group sharing particular (often unorthodox) political and/or religious beliefs.


3. Marsupial

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

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

► To cringe in fear

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


4. Jovial

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

► A relationship of mutual benefit or dependence.

► Marked by hearty conviviality and good cheer.

► To have a great ambition or ultimate goal


5. Tariff

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

► A schedule of prices or fees.

► The arrangement of events in time

► The act of resting or the state of being at rest.


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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.