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. Boisterous

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

To honor the memory of with a ceremony

Loud, noisy, and lacking in restraint or discipline

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


2. Protagonist

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

The main character in a drama or other literary work.

Not subject to an obligation imposed on others; exempt.

Something that is passed down from preceding generations; a tradition.


3. Divulge

To proclaim publicly

Similarity in some respects between things that are otherwise dissimilar.

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

A Y-shaped protein on the surface of B cells that is secreted into the blood or lymph in response to an antigenic stimulus


4. Gargoyle

A Y-shaped protein on the surface of B cells that is secreted into the blood or lymph in response to an antigenic stimulus

Grossly offensive to decency or morality.

A grotesque ornamental figure or projection.

Using or marked by the use of few words; terse or concise.


5. Labyrinth

Harmful, malevolent, injurious. Harmfully cancerous.

A rebirth or revival.

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

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


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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.