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

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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. Chronology

► Harmful, malevolent, injurious. Harmfully cancerous.

► A treeless area between the icecap and the tree line of Arctic regions, having a permanently frozen subsoil and supporting low-growing vegetation

► The arrangement of events in time

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

2. Hieroglyphic

► To proclaim publicly

► 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.

► To have a great ambition or ultimate goal

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

3. Formidable

► In a deplorable state of distress or misfortune; miserable.

► Sharing the same opinions or views; being in complete harmony or accord.

► Inspiring awe, admiration, or wonder

► A relationship of mutual benefit or dependence.

4. Strategy

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

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

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

► One that speaks for, represents, or advocates

5. Deign

► One that speaks for, represents, or advocates

► Marked by hearty conviviality and good cheer.

► 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.

► To condescend to give or grant

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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.