Words in the News

This Week's Word In The News 

ARID

DEFINITION:
Being without moisture; extremely dry; parched.

FOUND IN THE NEWS:
The unpredictability of illegal fireworks make them dangerous in the arid desert climate, said Riddle, who is also bureau commander of Metro’s Northeast Area Command.
►The Las Vegas Review-Journal, 06/30/2025

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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. Temblor

► A system of names used in an art or science:

► The art or study of correct spelling according to established usage.

► Shaking and vibration at the surface of the earth resulting from underground movement along a fault plane.

► Lacking serious purpose or occupation; idle.

2. Oxidize

► To divide (a geographic area) into voting districts so as to give unfair advantage to one party in elections.

► The predominant influence, as of a state, region, or group, over another or others.

► To increase the positive charge or valence of (an element) by removing electrons.

► Of or relating to a holding of something in trust for another.

3. Winnow

► To separate or get rid of (an undesirable part); eliminate.

► Extremely rapid, hasty, or abrupt; precipitate.

► Division into ordered groups or categories.

► Vanishing or likely to vanish like vapor.

4. Infrastructure

► Vanishing or likely to vanish like vapor.

► A person unduly fearful or contemptuous of that which is foreign, especially of strangers or foreign peoples.

► An underlying base or foundation especially for an organization or system.

► Needless repetition of the same sense in different words; redundancy.

5. Irony

► The use of words to express something different from and often opposite to their literal meaning.

► A factor that determines a range of variations; a boundary

► Noninterference in the affairs of others.

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

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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.