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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. Quandary

► A state of uncertainty or perplexity.

► 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 unstable, poisonous allotrope of oxygen.

2. Deign

► Having no specific pattern, purpose, or objective.

► An unstable, poisonous allotrope of oxygen.

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

► To condescend to give or grant

3. Plateau

► The locus of points for which the sum of the distances from each point to two fixed points is equal

► Having a buoyant or self-confident air; brisk.

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

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

4. Guru

► Having a backbone or spinal column.

► A teacher and guide in spiritual and philosophical matters.

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

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

5. Embargo

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

► The distance that light travels in a vacuum in one year.

► To move in waves or with a smooth, wavelike motion.

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

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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.