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. Stereotype

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

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

► The repetition of the same sounds or of the same kinds of sounds at the beginning of words or in stressed syllables

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

2. Strategy

► A person authorized to act as representative for another; a deputy.

► The science and art of using all the forces of a nation to execute approved plans as effectively as possible during peace or war.

► To cringe in fear

► 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

3. Formidable

► To take in by elaborate methods of deceit

► Inspiring awe, admiration, or wonder

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

► The right or privilege of voting; franchise.

4. Nocturnal

► Of, relating to, or occurring in the night

► Marked by hearty conviviality and good cheer.

► 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.

► To rejoice greatly; be jubilant or triumphant

5. Jaunty

► To have a great ambition or ultimate goal

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

► To condescend to give or grant

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

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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.