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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. Embargo

► One thing conceived as representing another; a symbol.

► A grotesque ornamental figure or projection.

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

2. Delegate

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

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

► A person authorized to act as representative for another; a deputy.

► Of, relating to, or occurring in the night

3. Yacht

► Any of various relatively small sailing or motor-driven vessels used for pleasure cruises or racing.

► The act of resting or the state of being at rest.

► A characteristic rate or rhythm of activity; a pace

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

4. Marsupial

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

► To rejoice greatly; be jubilant or triumphant

► Being without or almost without hope

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

5. Nuisance

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

► 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

► 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.

► The practice of professing beliefs, feelings, or virtues that one does not hold or possess; falseness.

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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.