Words in the News

This Week's Word In The News 

MITIGATION

DEFINITION:
The action of reducing the severity, seriousness, or painfulness of something.

FOUND IN THE NEWS:
But after years of record investment by the state in such wildfire risk mitigation, two key money sources are drying up, potentially reducing the state’s annual budget for vegetation removal by hundreds of millions of dollars.
►The Los Angeles Times, 06/01/2026

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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. Tectonic

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

► The lowest point

► A product of disintegration, destruction, or wearing away; debris.

► Architectural.

2. Vacuous

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

► The side of a right triangle opposite the right angle.

► Lacking serious purpose or occupation; idle.

► Of or relating to a holding of something in trust for another.

3. Filibuster

► Put together; created.

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

► A system of names used in an art or science:

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

4. Photosynthesis

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

► A doctrine holding that all values are baseless and that nothing can be known or communicated.

► A form of government in which the political authority exercises absolute and centralized control over all aspects of life,

► The process in green plants and certain other organisms by which carbohydrates are synthesized from carbon dioxide and water using light as an energy source.

5. Circumnavigate

► To proceed completely around:

► Something done or paid to compensate or make amends.

► Eating and drinking in moderation.

► The science and technology of building electronic circuits and devices from single atoms and molecules.

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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.