Words in the News

This Week's Word In The News 

PLOY

DEFINITION:
A cunning plan or action designed to turn a situation to one's own advantage.

FOUND IN THE NEWS:
“First of all, I think it’s important to recognize that the majority of the American people find this behavior deeply troubling,” said the 44th president, conceding that it does serve as an effective distraction and ploy for attention.
►The Boston Herald, 02/16/2026

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 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. Virtuoso

► One who rejects a religion, cause, allegiance, or group for another; a deserter.

► An alteration or change, as in nature, form, or quality.

► The act of reasoning from factual knowledge or evidence.

► A person with masterly skill or technique in the arts.

2. Outrageous

► Selecting or employing individual elements from a variety of sources, systems, or styles

► Using or marked by the use of few words; terse or concise.

► Having or demonstrating enthusiasm

► Grossly offensive to decency or morality.

3. Spectrum

► A grotesque ornamental figure or projection.

► The act of resting or the state of being at rest.

► The distribution of energy emitted by a radiant source, arranged in order of wavelengths.

► The locus of points for which the sum of the distances from each point to two fixed points is equal

4. Lichen

► A disorderly commotion or disturbance.

► A Y-shaped protein on the surface of B cells that is secreted into the blood or lymph in response to an antigenic stimulus

► Self-examination.

► A fungus, usually of the class Ascomycetes, that grows symbiotically with algae,

5. Malignant

► A drawing consisting of the outline of something, especially a human profile, filled in with a solid color.

► A teacher and guide in spiritual and philosophical matters.

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

► Harmful, malevolent, injurious. Harmfully cancerous.

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.