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 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. Nihilism

To picture falsely; misrepresent.

The iron-containing respiratory pigment in red blood cells of vertebrates.

A doctrine holding that all values are baseless and that nothing can be known or communicated.

Mournful, dismal, or gloomy, especially to an exaggerated or ludicrous degree.


2. Lexicon

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

Noninterference in the affairs of others.

Lacking social polish; tactless.

A stock of terms used in a particular profession, subject, or style; a vocabulary:


3. Vehement

The use of unnecessarily wordy and indirect language.

A diligent, dependable worker.

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

A factor that determines a range of variations; a boundary


4. Bellicose

Either of two points on the celestial sphere at which the ecliptic intersects the celestial equator.

To seize another’s place, authority, or possession wrongfully.

Warlike in manner or temperament; pugnacious.

The science and technology of building electronic circuits and devices from single atoms and molecules.


5. Evanescent

To endow with the rights of citizenship, especially the right to vote.

To proceed completely around:

Vanishing or likely to vanish like vapor.

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


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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.