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. Deduction

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

► To have a great ambition or ultimate goal

► 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.

► The systematic procedure by which a complex or scientific task is accomplished.

2. Tsunami

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

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

► Having no specific pattern, purpose, or objective.

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

3. Tranquility

► To condescend to give or grant

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

► The quality or state of being tranquil; serenity.

► A Y-shaped protein on the surface of B cells that is secreted into the blood or lymph in response to an antigenic stimulus

4. Quota

► A state of uncertainty or perplexity.

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

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

► A proportional part or share.

5. Ultraviolet

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

► 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.

► To rejoice greatly; be jubilant or triumphant

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

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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.