Words in the News

This Week's Word In The News 

SUREFIRE

DEFINITION:
Certain or likely, especially to succeed.

FOUND IN THE NEWS:
Kirby taught himself how to count cards, a surefire way to get barred from gambling at a casino, “raking in money on trips to Atlantic City and Las Vegas,” the article stated.
The Las Vegas Review-Journal, 05/04/2026

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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. Repose

To cringe in fear

One who habitually takes advantage of the generosity of others without making any useful return.

The act of resting or the state of being at rest.

The act of reasoning from factual knowledge or evidence.


2. Tsunami

A disorderly commotion or disturbance.

A very large and destructive wave, generally caused by a tremendous disturbance in the ocean, such as an undersea earthquake or volcanic eruption.

One that takes in everything available, as with the mind.

A conventional, formulaic, and oversimplified conception, opinion, or image.


3. Hieroglyphic

The distribution of energy emitted by a radiant source, arranged in order of wavelengths.

Conversation between characters in a drama or narrative

Relating to a system of writing, such as that of ancient Egypt, in which pictorial symbols are used to represent meaning or sounds or a combination of meaning and sound.

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


4. Vacillate

To swing indecisively from one course of action or opinion to another.

The repetition of the same sounds or of the same kinds of sounds at the beginning of words or in stressed syllables

The systematic procedure by which a complex or scientific task is accomplished.

Having a backbone or spinal column.


5. Xylem

In a deplorable state of distress or misfortune; miserable.

The supporting and water-conducting tissue of vascular plants, consisting primarily of tracheids and vessels; woody tissue.

A closed plane figure bounded by three or more line segments.

A preparation of a weakened or killed pathogen.


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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.