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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

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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. Sanguine

Of or relating to a holding of something in trust for another.

Deception by trickery or sophistry.

A plane curve formed by the intersection of a right circular cone and a plane parallel to an element of the cone.

Cheerfully confident; optimistic.


2. Expurgate

To remove erroneous, vulgar, obscene, or otherwise objectionable material from (a book, for example) before publication.

To repeat in concise form. To make a summary.

Of or relating to money

Architectural.


3. Lexicon

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

A stock of terms used in a particular profession, subject, or style; a vocabulary:

Quickness, accuracy, and keenness of judgment or insight.

Division into ordered groups or categories.


4. Diffident

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.

Lacking or marked by a lack of self-confidence; shy and timid.

Feeling or showing haughty disdain.

Tumultuous; stormy.


5. Wrought

Put together; created.

Full of or exhibiting servile compliance; fawning.

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

Impossible to dispute; unquestionable


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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.