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Words in the News

This Week's Word In The News 

ACQUAINTANCE

DEFINITION:
A person one knows slightly, but who is not a close friend.

FOUND IN THE NEWS:
When photographer Peter Turnley was just 20 years old, an acquaintance from the California Office of Economic Opportunity reached out to him with a question.
The Los Angeles Times, 12/01/2025

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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. Omnipotent

Architectural.

The iron-containing respiratory pigment in red blood cells of vertebrates.

Characterized by affected, exaggerated, or insincere earnestness.

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


2. Soliloquy

To proceed completely around:

Noninterference in the affairs of others.

Something done or paid to compensate or make amends.

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.


3. Lucid

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

Put together; created.

Clear to the understanding.

Needless repetition of the same sense in different words; redundancy.


4. Nihilism

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

The process in cell division by which the nucleus divides.

To abolish, do away with, or annul, especially by authority.

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


5. Totalitarian

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

Lacking purpose or vitality; feeble or ineffective.

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

To seize another’s place, authority, or possession wrongfully.


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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.