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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. Rainforest

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

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

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

► To pound, crush, or grind to a powder or dust.

2. Boycott

► To abstain from or act together in abstaining from using, buying, or dealing with as an expression of protest or disfavor or as a means of coercion

► To stress or emphasize; intensify

► An alteration or change, as in nature, form, or quality.

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

3. Spectrum

► The distribution of energy emitted by a radiant source, arranged in order of wavelengths.

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

► Having a backbone or spinal column.

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

4. Deign

► A movement or procedure involving skill and dexterity.

► To condescend to give or grant

► One who habitually takes advantage of the generosity of others without making any useful return.

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

5. Guerrilla

► The science and art of using all the forces of a nation to execute approved plans as effectively as possible during peace or war.

► A member of an irregular, usually indigenous military or paramilitary unit operating in small bands in occupied territory to harass and undermine the enemy

► The quality or state of being tranquil; serenity.

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

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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.