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 Middle 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. Metaphor

► A conventional, formulaic, and oversimplified conception, opinion, or image.

► The act of resting or the state of being at rest.

► Self-examination.

► One thing conceived as representing another; a symbol.

2. Toxin

► Harmful, malevolent, injurious. Harmfully cancerous.

► The right or privilege of voting; franchise.

► A person with masterly skill or technique in the arts.

► A poisonous substance, especially a protein, that is produced by living cells or organisms.

3. Sect

► Something that is passed down from preceding generations; a tradition.

► A weather phenomenon in the Eastern Pacific that is precisely equivalent to a hurricane.

► A cult or religious movement, a group sharing particular (often unorthodox) political and/or religious beliefs.

► A member of an irregular, usually indigenous military or paramilitary unit operating in small bands in occupied territory to harass and undermine the enemy

4. Alliteration

► The distribution of energy emitted by a radiant source, arranged in order of wavelengths.

► The repetition of the same sounds or of the same kinds of sounds at the beginning of words or in stressed syllables

► A Y-shaped protein on the surface of B cells that is secreted into the blood or lymph in response to an antigenic stimulus

► Appropriateness of behavior or conduct

5. Recede

► To move back or away from a limit, point, or mark

► A treeless area between the icecap and the tree line of Arctic regions, having a permanently frozen subsoil and supporting low-growing vegetation

► To abstain from or act together in abstaining from using, buying, or dealing with as an expression of protest or disfavor or as a means of coercion

► Not subject to an obligation imposed on others; exempt.

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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.