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. Sacrifice

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

► Conversation between characters in a drama or narrative

► Inspiring awe, admiration, or wonder

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

2. Bamboozle

► A disorderly commotion or disturbance.

► The right or privilege of voting; franchise.

► To take in by elaborate methods of deceit

► Something that is passed down from preceding generations; a tradition.

3. Deduction

► The drawing of a conclusion by reasoning; the act of deducing.

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

► Either of two times of the year when the sun is at its greatest distance from the celestial equator.

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

4. Renegade

► One who rejects a religion, cause, allegiance, or group for another; a deserter.

► Harmful, malevolent, injurious. Harmfully cancerous.

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

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

5. Mosaic

► Exceeding the limits of propriety or good manners; improperly forward or bold

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

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

► 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.

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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.