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 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. Divulge

► To proclaim publicly

► The drawing of a conclusion by reasoning; the act of deducing.

► Being without or almost without hope

► A preparation of a weakened or killed pathogen.

2. Nuisance

► One that is inconvenient, annoying, or vexatious; a bother.

► A rebirth or revival.

► A conventional, formulaic, and oversimplified conception, opinion, or image.

► Grossly offensive to decency or morality.

3. Plateau

► Grossly offensive to decency or morality.

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

► An elevated, comparatively level expanse of land; a tableland.

► A prohibition by a government on certain or all trade with a foreign nation

4. Tsunami

► Marked by hearty conviviality and good cheer.

► A very large and destructive wave, generally caused by a tremendous disturbance in the ocean, such as an undersea earthquake or volcanic eruption.

► The arrangement of events in time

► Forfeiture of something highly valued for the sake of one considered to have a greater value or claim.

5. Alliteration

► A characteristic rate or rhythm of activity; a pace

► The pattern produced on a photosensitive medium that has been exposed by holography and then photographically developed.

► The repetition of the same sounds or of the same kinds of sounds at the beginning of words or in stressed syllables

► Inspiring awe, admiration, or wonder

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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.