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. Random

An unstable, poisonous allotrope of oxygen.

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.

Having no specific pattern, purpose, or objective.

An ammunition belt, worn over the shoulder, having loops or pockets for cartridges.


2. Nuisance

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

Any of various nonplacental mammals, including kangaroos, opossums, bandicoots, and wombats, found principally in Australia and the Americas.

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

To have a great ambition or ultimate goal


3. Embargo

A preparation of a weakened or killed pathogen.

One that speaks for, represents, or advocates

A prohibition by a government on certain or all trade with a foreign nation

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


4. Decorum

Appropriateness of behavior or conduct

Having a backbone or spinal column.

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

A form of a verb that in some languages, such as English, can function independently as an adjective.


5. Suffrage

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

A form of a verb that in some languages, such as English, can function independently as an adjective.

A movement or procedure involving skill and dexterity.

The right or privilege of voting; franchise.


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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.