Words in the News

This Week's Word In The News 

ACCOST

DEFINITION:
To approach and speak to (someone) in an often challenging or aggressive way.

FOUND IN THE NEWS:
As their identities became more public, the operators were even accosted in their off hours.
►The Anchorage Daily News, 09/21/2026

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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. Nihilism

► Put together; created.

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

► The lowest point

► Of or relating to money

2. Plasma

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

► The clear, yellowish fluid portion of blood, lymph, or intramuscular fluid in which cells are suspended.

► Eating and drinking in moderation.

► To remove erroneous, vulgar, obscene, or otherwise objectionable material from (a book, for example) before publication.

3. Hubris

► Characterized by forcefulness of expression or intensity of emotion or conviction; fervid.

► The use of unnecessarily wordy and indirect language.

► Overbearing pride or presumption; arrogance.

► Noninterference in the affairs of others.

4. Parabola

► To bring under control; conquer.

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

► Characterized by affected, exaggerated, or insincere earnestness.

5. Deleterious

► Having a harmful effect; injurious.

► Vanishing or likely to vanish like vapor.

► Tumultuous; stormy.

► Impossible to dispute; unquestionable

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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.