Words in the News

This Week's Word In The News 

BILLIONAIRE

DEFINITION:
One whose wealth is estimated at a billion or more dollars, pounds, or other monetary units.

FOUND IN THE NEWS:
About a dozen people took part in the “March for billionaires” on Saturday morning in San Francisco to raise awareness about the plight of the ultrarich.
►The Los Angeles Times, 02/09/2026

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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. Embargo

► A prohibition by a government on certain or all trade with a foreign nation

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

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

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

2. Strategy

► Marked by hearty conviviality and good cheer.

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

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

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

3. Pulverize

► To pound, crush, or grind to a powder or dust.

► To condescend to give or grant

► 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

► Selecting or employing individual elements from a variety of sources, systems, or styles

4. Fallacy

► Selecting or employing individual elements from a variety of sources, systems, or styles

► To honor the memory of with a ceremony

► Incorrectness of reasoning or belief

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

5. Light-Year

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

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

► Using or marked by the use of few words; terse or concise.

► Any of various nonplacental mammals, including kangaroos, opossums, bandicoots, and wombats, found principally in Australia and the Americas.

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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.