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. Jaunty

► The method or result of concealing personnel or equipment from an enemy by making them appear to be part of the natural surroundings

► Having a buoyant or self-confident air; brisk.

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

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

2. Wretched

► Harmful, malevolent, injurious. Harmfully cancerous.

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

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

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

3. Stereotype

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

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

► A conventional, formulaic, and oversimplified conception, opinion, or image.

► Marked by hearty conviviality and good cheer.

4. Phloem

► Inspiring awe, admiration, or wonder

► A relationship of mutual benefit or dependence.

► Strikingly unconventional and far-fetched in style or appearance; odd

► The food-conducting tissue of vascular plants, consisting of sieve tubes, fibers, parenchyma, and sclereids.

5. Ellipse

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

► The locus of points for which the sum of the distances from each point to two fixed points is equal

► A rebirth or revival.

► Incorrectness of reasoning or belief

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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.