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Words in the News

This Week's Word In The News 

MITIGATION

DEFINITION:
The action of reducing the severity, seriousness, or painfulness of something.

FOUND IN THE NEWS:
But after years of record investment by the state in such wildfire risk mitigation, two key money sources are drying up, potentially reducing the state’s annual budget for vegetation removal by hundreds of millions of dollars.
►The Los Angeles Times, 06/01/2026

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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. Quasar

► An extremely distant, and thus old, celestial object whose power output is several thousand times that of our entire galaxy.

► Deception by trickery or sophistry.

► A temple tower of the ancient Assyrians and Babylonians, having the form of a terraced pyramid of successively receding stories.

► Eating and drinking in moderation.

2. Obsequious

► A temple tower of the ancient Assyrians and Babylonians, having the form of a terraced pyramid of successively receding stories.

► Eating and drinking in moderation.

► Logical incongruity

► Full of or exhibiting servile compliance; fawning.

3. Hemoglobin

► Division into ordered groups or categories.

► To insert or introduce between other elements or parts.

► The lowest point

► The iron-containing respiratory pigment in red blood cells of vertebrates.

4. Detritus

► A reproductive cell having the haploid number of chromosomes, especially a mature sperm or egg capable of fusing with a gamete of the opposite sex to produce the fertilized egg.

► A product of disintegration, destruction, or wearing away; debris.

► Having a harmful effect; injurious.

► A factor that determines a range of variations; a boundary

5. Tempestuous

► A factor that determines a range of variations; a boundary

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

► Lacking purpose or vitality; feeble or ineffective.

► Tumultuous; stormy.

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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.