Words in the News

This Week's Word In The News 

VERTEBRAE

DEFINITION:
Each of the series of small bones forming the backbone.

FOUND IN THE NEWS:
The photographer with The Washington Post who was attacked by Jewish settlers in the occupied West Bank so badly that several vertebrae were broken said Sunday she was increasingly angry that Israel’s military seems to protect settlers more than the Palestinians they threaten.
►Associated Press, 10/19/2026

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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. Jejune

► Very talkative; garrulous.

► Interchanged, given, or owed to each other.

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

► Not interesting; dull:

2. Lexicon

► A stock of terms used in a particular profession, subject, or style; a vocabulary:

► To picture falsely; misrepresent.

► Eating and drinking in moderation.

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

3. Soliloquy

► A plane curve formed by the intersection of a right circular cone and a plane parallel to an element of the cone.

► 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.

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

► A set of assumptions, concepts, values, and practices that constitutes a way of viewing reality

4. Euro

► A set of assumptions, concepts, values, and practices that constitutes a way of viewing reality

► Playfully jocular; humorous

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

► The basic unit of currency among participating European Union countries.

5. Tempestuous

► Tumultuous; stormy.

► To make an accusation against.

► Lacking social polish; tactless.

► A circular strand of DNA in bacteria that contains the hereditary information necessary for cell life.

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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.