Words in the News

This Week's Word In The News 

SUREFIRE

DEFINITION:
Certain or likely, especially to succeed.

FOUND IN THE NEWS:
Kirby taught himself how to count cards, a surefire way to get barred from gambling at a casino, “raking in money on trips to Atlantic City and Las Vegas,” the article stated.
►The Las Vegas Review-Journal, 05/04/2026

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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. Typhoon

► A dense evergreen forest occupying a tropical region with an annual rainfall of at least 100 inches.

► To stress or emphasize; intensify

► Not subject to an obligation imposed on others; exempt.

► A weather phenomenon in the Eastern Pacific that is precisely equivalent to a hurricane.

2. Embargo

► To rejoice greatly; be jubilant or triumphant

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

► Harmful, malevolent, injurious. Harmfully cancerous.

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

3. Flourish

► To cringe in fear

► To grow well or luxuriantly; thrive

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

► The food-conducting tissue of vascular plants, consisting of sieve tubes, fibers, parenchyma, and sclereids.

4. Participle

► The food-conducting tissue of vascular plants, consisting of sieve tubes, fibers, parenchyma, and sclereids.

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

► Relating to a system of writing, such as that of ancient Egypt, in which pictorial symbols are used to represent meaning or sounds or a combination of meaning and sound.

► A form of a verb that in some languages, such as English, can function independently as an adjective.

5. Silhouette

► Grossly offensive to decency or morality.

► A member of an irregular, usually indigenous military or paramilitary unit operating in small bands in occupied territory to harass and undermine the enemy

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

► The science and art of using all the forces of a nation to execute approved plans as effectively as possible during peace or war.

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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.