Bay Area Newsgroup Newspapers in Education.  The Mercury News, East Bay Times, Marin Independant Journal, Santa Cruz Sentinel.  Classroom Hero image. Bay Area Newsgroup Newspapers in Education.  The Mercury News, East Bay Times, Marin Independant Journal, Santa Cruz Sentinel.  Classroom Hero image.
Home About NIE Sponsor NIE Contact Us
Geography Last Week Front Page Cartoons News Video Words Use the News History Special Report Pulse NASA

Words in the News

This Week's Word In The News 

PROACTIVE

DEFINITION:
Taking action to control a situation rather than responding to it after it has happened.

FOUND IN THE NEWS:
LoPilato said the policy aims to be proactive, rather than allowing more violence to take place before regulating the problem.
The Los Angeles Times, 07/20/2026

Generate your own quiz
Select a grade level
 Elementary
 Middle School
 High School
Select a quiz type
 By words
 By Definitions
Select how many questions
5   10   15   20  

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. Nihilism

A dramatic or literary form of discourse in which a character talks to himself or herself or reveals his or her thoughts without addressing a listener.

A circular strand of DNA in bacteria that contains the hereditary information necessary for cell life.

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

To renounce under oath; forswear.


2. Notarize

To certify or attest to (the validity of a signature on a document, for example) as a notary public.

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.

To separate or get rid of (an undesirable part); eliminate.

To bring under control; conquer.


3. Gamete

A reproductive cell having the haploid number of chromosomes, especially a mature sperm or egg capable of fusing with a gamete of the opposite sex to produce the fertilized egg.

Overbearing pride or presumption; arrogance.

To picture falsely; misrepresent.

Clear to the understanding.


4. Inculcate

To picture falsely; misrepresent.

Clear to the understanding.

Having unlimited or universal power, authority, or force; all-powerful.

To impress (something) upon the mind of another by frequent instruction or repetition; instill.


5. Incognito

To divide (a geographic area) into voting districts so as to give unfair advantage to one party in elections.

Having one’s true identity concealed.

The use of unnecessarily wordy and indirect language.

An underlying base or foundation especially for an organization or system.


Get more Quizzes 

 Elementary School    Middle School   High School  

 By Word     By Definition    5  10  15  20 Questions

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.