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Words in the News

This Week's Word In The News 

SHRAPNEL

DEFINITION:
Pieces of a bomb, shell, or bullet that has exploded.

FOUND IN THE NEWS:
The U.S. military exercise that shot live-fire artillery rounds over Interstate 5 on Saturday dropped metal shrapnel onto a California Highway Patrol protective services detail for Vice President JD Vance, agency officials said Sunday.
The Los Angeles Times, 10/20/2025

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Words in the News Quiz
5 High 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. Respiration

Having a bad disposition; surly.

The act or process of inhaling and exhaling; breathing.

Belonging to the period before a war, especially the American Civil War.

A place or situation regarded as drawing into its center all that surrounds it.


2. Vehement

The process in green plants and certain other organisms by which carbohydrates are synthesized from carbon dioxide and water using light as an energy source.

Characterized by forcefulness of expression or intensity of emotion or conviction; fervid.

Everyday; commonplace.

Lacking purpose or vitality; feeble or ineffective.


3. Interpolate

To insert or introduce between other elements or parts.

Feeling or showing haughty disdain.

Architectural.

A form of government in which the political authority exercises absolute and centralized control over all aspects of life,


4. Kowtow

Architectural.

A form of government in which the political authority exercises absolute and centralized control over all aspects of life,

A doctrine holding that all values are baseless and that nothing can be known or communicated.

To show servile deference.


5. Oligarchy

Impossible to dispute; unquestionable

Mournful, dismal, or gloomy, especially to an exaggerated or ludicrous degree.

To endow with the rights of citizenship, especially the right to vote.

Government by a few, especially by a small faction of persons or families.


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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.