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

Generate your own quiz
Select a grade level
 Elementary
 Middle School
 High School
Select a quiz type
 By words
 By Definitions
Select how many questions
5   10   15   20  

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. Parameter

► 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.

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

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

► To divide (a geographic area) into voting districts so as to give unfair advantage to one party in elections.

2. Belie

► To divide (a geographic area) into voting districts so as to give unfair advantage to one party in elections.

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

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

► To picture falsely; misrepresent.

3. Epiphany

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

► 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.

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

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

4. Chromosome

► The iron-containing respiratory pigment in red blood cells of vertebrates.

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

► Overbearing pride or presumption; arrogance.

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

5. Churlish

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

► The use of words to express something different from and often opposite to their literal meaning.

► Division into ordered groups or categories.

► Having a bad disposition; surly.

Get more Quizzes 

 Elementary School    Middle School   High School  

 By Word     By Definition    5  10  15  20 Questions

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.