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 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. Impeach

► To make an accusation against.

► To renounce under oath; forswear.

► Shaking and vibration at the surface of the earth resulting from underground movement along a fault plane.

► To seize another’s place, authority, or possession wrongfully.

2. Circumnavigate

► Shaking and vibration at the surface of the earth resulting from underground movement along a fault plane.

► To seize another’s place, authority, or possession wrongfully.

► Cheerfully confident; optimistic.

► To proceed completely around:

3. Gauche

► A sudden manifestation of the essence or meaning of something.

► Lacking social polish; tactless.

► A reproductive cell having the haploid number of chromosomes, especially a mature sperm or egg capable of fusing with a gamete of the opposite sex to produce the fertilized egg.

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

4. Totalitarian

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

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

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

► A temple tower of the ancient Assyrians and Babylonians, having the form of a terraced pyramid of successively receding stories.

5. Nadir

► The lowest point

► An extremely distant, and thus old, celestial object whose power output is several thousand times that of our entire galaxy.

► The art or study of correct spelling according to established usage.

► A diligent, dependable worker.

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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.