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. Tariff

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

► 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 schedule of prices or fees.

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

2. Outrageous

► A preparation of a weakened or killed pathogen.

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

► Any of several rod-shaped bacteria, of the genus Salmonella, that cause food poisoning and other diseases.

► Grossly offensive to decency or morality.

3. Despondent

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

► Being without or almost without hope

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

► The distance that light travels in a vacuum in one year.

4. Hypocrisy

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

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

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

► To cringe in fear

5. Antibody

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

► An ammunition belt, worn over the shoulder, having loops or pockets for cartridges.

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

► Loud, noisy, and lacking in restraint or discipline

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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.