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

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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. Auspicious

► Very talkative; garrulous.

► Attended by favorable circumstances; propitious.

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

► The act or process of inhaling and exhaling; breathing.

2. Oligarchy

► Full of or exhibiting servile compliance; fawning.

► A place or situation regarded as drawing into its center all that surrounds it.

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

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

3. Hegemony

► Any of numerous natural and synthetic compounds consisting of up to millions of repeated linked units,

► Having a bad disposition; surly.

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

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

4. Feckless

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

► Lacking purpose or vitality; feeble or ineffective.

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

► Impossible to dispute; unquestionable

5. Taxonomy

► Impossible to dispute; unquestionable

► Cheerfully confident; optimistic.

► A marked change in appearance, character, condition, or function.

► Division into ordered groups or categories.

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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.