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 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. Acumen

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

Lacking social polish; tactless.

A sudden manifestation of the essence or meaning of something.

Quickness, accuracy, and keenness of judgment or insight.


2. Oligarchy

Government by a few, especially by a small faction of persons or families.

To insert or introduce between other elements or parts.

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

Vacuously, smugly, and unconsciously foolish.


3. Tautology

Vacuously, smugly, and unconsciously foolish.

A system of names used in an art or science:

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

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


4. Pecuniary

Lacking serious purpose or occupation; idle.

Having one’s true identity concealed.

Of or relating to money

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


5. Circumnavigate

A reproductive cell having the haploid number of chromosomes, especially a mature sperm or egg capable of fusing with a gamete of the opposite sex to produce the fertilized egg.

To renounce under oath; forswear.

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

To proceed completely around:


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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.