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. Polymer

► To certify or attest to (the validity of a signature on a document, for example) as a notary public.

► To proceed completely around:

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

► To insert or introduce between other elements or parts.

2. Bellicose

► Warlike in manner or temperament; pugnacious.

► Having a bad disposition; surly.

► Not interesting; dull:

► Of the same or similar nature or kind

3. Antebellum

► Belonging to the period before a war, especially the American Civil War.

► Characterized by affected, exaggerated, or insincere earnestness.

► Division into ordered groups or categories.

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

4. Soliloquy

► Clear to the understanding.

► A dramatic or literary form of discourse in which a character talks to himself or herself or reveals his or her thoughts without addressing a listener.

► Interchanged, given, or owed to each other.

► Eating and drinking in moderation.

5. Filibuster

► To weaken or destroy the strength or vitality of.

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

► The use of obstructionist tactics, especially prolonged speechmaking, for the purpose of delaying legislative action.

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

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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.