Words in the News

This Week's Word In The News 

PROACTIVE

DEFINITION:
Taking action to control a situation rather than responding to it after it has happened.

FOUND IN THE NEWS:
LoPilato said the policy aims to be proactive, rather than allowing more violence to take place before regulating the problem.
The Los Angeles Times, 07/20/2026

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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. Plateau

To grow well or luxuriantly; thrive

Having a buoyant or self-confident air; brisk.

To stress or emphasize; intensify

An elevated, comparatively level expanse of land; a tableland.


2. Exult

Inspiring awe, admiration, or wonder

To rejoice greatly; be jubilant or triumphant

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

To take in by elaborate methods of deceit


3. Zoology

The act of reasoning from factual knowledge or evidence.

An unstable, poisonous allotrope of oxygen.

The branch of biology that deals with animals and animal life, including the study of the structure, physiology, development, and classification of animals.

A drawing consisting of the outline of something, especially a human profile, filled in with a solid color.


4. Cower

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

A Y-shaped protein on the surface of B cells that is secreted into the blood or lymph in response to an antigenic stimulus

To cringe in fear

The drawing of a conclusion by reasoning; the act of deducing.


5. Recede

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

A cult or religious movement, a group sharing particular (often unorthodox) political and/or religious beliefs.

To move back or away from a limit, point, or mark

Of or relating to the range of invisible radiation wavelengths from about 4 nanometers, on the border of the x-ray region, to about 380 nanometers, just beyond the violet in the visible spectrum.


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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.