Words in the News

This Week's Word In The News 

ACQUAINTANCE

DEFINITION:
A person one knows slightly, but who is not a close friend.

FOUND IN THE NEWS:
When photographer Peter Turnley was just 20 years old, an acquaintance from the California Office of Economic Opportunity reached out to him with a question.
The Los Angeles Times, 12/01/2025

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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. Nuisance

In a deplorable state of distress or misfortune; miserable.

To stress or emphasize; intensify

One that is inconvenient, annoying, or vexatious; a bother.

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


2. Kilometer

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

Having a backbone or spinal column.

To pound, crush, or grind to a powder or dust.

A person with masterly skill or technique in the arts.


3. Vacillate

A person with masterly skill or technique in the arts.

Forfeiture of something highly valued for the sake of one considered to have a greater value or claim.

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

A dense evergreen forest occupying a tropical region with an annual rainfall of at least 100 inches.


4. Toxin

To cringe in fear

A poisonous substance, especially a protein, that is produced by living cells or organisms.

To proclaim publicly

The practice of professing beliefs, feelings, or virtues that one does not hold or possess; falseness.


5. Quota

The practice of professing beliefs, feelings, or virtues that one does not hold or possess; falseness.

Having or demonstrating enthusiasm

Relating to a system of writing, such as that of ancient Egypt, in which pictorial symbols are used to represent meaning or sounds or a combination of meaning and sound.

A proportional part or share.


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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.