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. Light-Year

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

► An unstable, poisonous allotrope of oxygen.

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

► Self-examination.

2. Hologram

► Self-examination.

► An intricate structure of interconnecting passages through which it is difficult to find one’s way; a maze.

► The pattern produced on a photosensitive medium that has been exposed by holography and then photographically developed.

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

3. Toxin

► To rejoice greatly; be jubilant or triumphant

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

► A poisonous substance, especially a protein, that is produced by living cells or organisms.

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

4. Chronology

► Similarity in some respects between things that are otherwise dissimilar.

► The arrangement of events in time

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

► The right or privilege of voting; franchise.

5. Nebula

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

► Grossly offensive to decency or morality.

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

► To take in by elaborate methods of deceit

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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.