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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. Ozone

► An unstable, poisonous allotrope of oxygen.

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

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

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

2. Quarantine

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

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

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

► Enforced isolation or restriction of free movement imposed to prevent the spread of contagious disease.

3. Labyrinth

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

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

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

► An intricate structure of interconnecting passages through which it is difficult to find one’s way; a maze.

4. Polygon

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

► One who rejects a religion, cause, allegiance, or group for another; a deserter.

► Similarity in some respects between things that are otherwise dissimilar.

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

5. Ellipse

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

► Harmful, malevolent, injurious. Harmfully cancerous.

► 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

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

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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.