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 Elementary 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. function

Specifically, giving indication of a coming ill; being an evil omen

A long flat-topped fixture in a store or bank across which business is conducted with customers.

What something does or is used for.

To move in a quick fashion.


2. analogy

Facts or observations presented in support of an assertion.

A process by which a task is completed; a way of doing something.

A relationship of resemblance or equivalence between two situations, people, or objects,

So difficult or taxing as to make one exhausted; backbreaking.


3. waver

To recover, especially from an illness; to get better from an illness.

To start (a fire) or light (a torch).

Displeasing to the eye

To sway back and forth; to totter or reel.


4. headway

The rate of occurrence of anything; the relationship between incidence and time period.

To move or swing a weapon back and forth, particularly if demonstrating skill.

Progress toward a goal.

Examine methodically and in detail the constitution or structure of something, esp. information.


5. exasperation

An attempt to deceive someone into believing that one can or will do something.

Deduce or conclude (information) from evidence and reasoning rather than from explicit statements

The act of exasperating or the state of being exasperated; irritation; keen or bitter anger.

A deliberate action aimed at weakening an enemy through subversion, obstruction, disruption, and/or destruction.


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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.