Words in the News

This Week's Word In The News 

PLOY

DEFINITION:
A cunning plan or action designed to turn a situation to one's own advantage.

FOUND IN THE NEWS:
“First of all, I think it’s important to recognize that the majority of the American people find this behavior deeply troubling,” said the 44th president, conceding that it does serve as an effective distraction and ploy for attention.
►The Boston Herald, 02/16/2026

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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. Quandary

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

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

► Of or relating to the range of invisible radiation wavelengths from about 4 nanometers, on the border of the x-ray region, to about 380 nanometers, just beyond the violet in the visible spectrum.

► A state of uncertainty or perplexity.

2. Participle

► An unstable, poisonous allotrope of oxygen.

► A relationship of mutual benefit or dependence.

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

► A form of a verb that in some languages, such as English, can function independently as an adjective.

3. Suffrage

► The distribution of energy emitted by a radiant source, arranged in order of wavelengths.

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

► The right or privilege of voting; franchise.

► Consuming or eager to consume great amounts of food; ravenous.

4. Boycott

► A teacher and guide in spiritual and philosophical matters.

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

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

► 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

5. Deduction

► An elevated, comparatively level expanse of land; a tableland.

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

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

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

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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.