Words in the News

This Week's Word In The News 

LITIGANT

DEFINITION:
Someone involved in a lawsuit.

FOUND IN THE NEWS:
With the widespread and transformative use of artificial intelligence — particularly generative AI — in daily life, federal and state courts in New Mexico are finding self-represented litigants and some attorneys filing legal cases containing false or misleading information.
►The Albuquerque Journal, 04/13/2026

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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. Vacillate

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

► Loud, noisy, and lacking in restraint or discipline

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

► To swing indecisively from one course of action or opinion to another.

2. Inference

► A picture or decorative design made by setting small colored pieces, as of stone or tile, into a surface.

► The act of reasoning from factual knowledge or evidence.

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

► Of or relating to the range of invisible radiation wavelengths from about 4 nanometers, on the border of the x-ray region, to about 380 nanometers, just beyond the violet in the visible spectrum.

3. Toxin

► A poisonous substance, especially a protein, that is produced by living cells or organisms.

► To pound, crush, or grind to a powder or dust.

► The branch of biology that deals with animals and animal life, including the study of the structure, physiology, development, and classification of animals.

► Similarity in some respects between things that are otherwise dissimilar.

4. Deign

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

► To condescend to give or grant

► The arrangement of events in time

► The practice of professing beliefs, feelings, or virtues that one does not hold or possess; falseness.

5. Immune

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

► A person authorized to act as representative for another; a deputy.

► A preparation of a weakened or killed pathogen.

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

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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.