Words in the News

This Week's Word In The News 

ACQUAINTANCE

DEFINITION:
A person one knows slightly, but who is not a close friend.

FOUND IN THE NEWS:
When photographer Peter Turnley was just 20 years old, an acquaintance from the California Office of Economic Opportunity reached out to him with a question.
The Los Angeles Times, 12/01/2025

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Words in the News Quiz
5 Middle 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. Despondent

Being without or almost without hope

An alteration or change, as in nature, form, or quality.

A dense evergreen forest occupying a tropical region with an annual rainfall of at least 100 inches.

The pattern produced on a photosensitive medium that has been exposed by holography and then photographically developed.


2. Commemorate

A proportional part or share.

To honor the memory of with a ceremony

The arrangement of events in time

To have a great ambition or ultimate goal


3. Toxin

One that is inconvenient, annoying, or vexatious; a bother.

A poisonous substance, especially a protein, that is produced by living cells or organisms.

In a deplorable state of distress or misfortune; miserable.

Marked by hearty conviviality and good cheer.


4. Strategy

The science and art of using all the forces of a nation to execute approved plans as effectively as possible during peace or war.

The food-conducting tissue of vascular plants, consisting of sieve tubes, fibers, parenchyma, and sclereids.

Either of two times of the year when the sun is at its greatest distance from the celestial equator.

The distance that light travels in a vacuum in one year.


5. Bizarre

The distance that light travels in a vacuum in one year.

A grotesque ornamental figure or projection.

Strikingly unconventional and far-fetched in style or appearance; odd

Having no specific pattern, purpose, or objective.


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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.