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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. Omnivore

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

► Having or demonstrating enthusiasm

► A person with masterly skill or technique in the arts.

► The method or result of concealing personnel or equipment from an enemy by making them appear to be part of the natural surroundings

2. Zoology

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

► To stress or emphasize; intensify

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

► The right or privilege of voting; franchise.

3. Vertebrate

► The right or privilege of voting; franchise.

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

► Having a backbone or spinal column.

► Forfeiture of something highly valued for the sake of one considered to have a greater value or claim.

4. Silhouette

► Harmful, malevolent, injurious. Harmfully cancerous.

► The quality or state of being tranquil; serenity.

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

► Any of several rod-shaped bacteria, of the genus Salmonella, that cause food poisoning and other diseases.

5. Commemorate

► A diffuse mass of interstellar dust or gas or both, visible as luminous patches or areas of darkness

► A relationship of mutual benefit or dependence.

► To honor the memory of with a ceremony

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

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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.