|
|
|
|

Words in the News

This Week's Word In The News 

ADVERSE

DEFINITION:
Having a negative or harmful effect on something.

FOUND IN THE NEWS:
There was no evidence of “any adverse or harmful chemical or other exposures,” he wrote.
The Boston Herald, 06/15/2026

Generate your own quiz
Select a grade level
 Elementary
 Middle School
 High School
Select a quiz type
 By words
 By Definitions
Select how many questions
5   10   15   20  

Words in the News Quiz
5 High 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. Incognito

Having one’s true identity concealed.

Lacking or marked by a lack of self-confidence; shy and timid.

Having unlimited or universal power, authority, or force; all-powerful.

Impossible to dispute; unquestionable


2. Thermodynamics

A temple tower of the ancient Assyrians and Babylonians, having the form of a terraced pyramid of successively receding stories.

Physics that deals with the relationships and conversions between heat and other forms of energy.

To renounce under oath; forswear.

Lacking serious purpose or occupation; idle.


3. Expurgate

To remove erroneous, vulgar, obscene, or otherwise objectionable material from (a book, for example) before publication.

To abolish, do away with, or annul, especially by authority.

The side of a right triangle opposite the right angle.

Tumultuous; stormy.


4. Deciduous

An extremely distant, and thus old, celestial object whose power output is several thousand times that of our entire galaxy.

Falling off or shed at a specific season or stage of growth:

Lacking social polish; tactless.

To picture falsely; misrepresent.


5. Inculcate

Belonging to the period before a war, especially the American Civil War.

Characterized by forcefulness of expression or intensity of emotion or conviction; fervid.

To impress (something) upon the mind of another by frequent instruction or repetition; instill.

Of, relating to, or produced by motion.


Get more Quizzes 

 Elementary School    Middle School   High School  

 By Word     By Definition    5  10  15  20 Questions

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.