Words in the News

This Week's Word In The News 

DILAPIDATED

DEFINITION:
A state of disrepair or ruin as a result of age or neglect.

FOUND IN THE NEWS:
Before the shooting on Monday, 35 people worked at the California Terra Garden and some of them lived in a collection of dilapidated trailers and make-shift homes, where they paid $300 a month in rent, according to a company spokesperson.
►The San Jose Mercury News, 01/30/2023

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Words in the News Quiz
5 High 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. Winnow

► A dramatic or literary form of discourse in which a character talks to himself or herself or reveals his or her thoughts without addressing a listener.

► To renounce under oath; forswear.

► The basic unit of currency among participating European Union countries.

► To separate or get rid of (an undesirable part); eliminate.

2. Circumlocution

► The use of unnecessarily wordy and indirect language.

► Mournful, dismal, or gloomy, especially to an exaggerated or ludicrous degree.

► Attended by favorable circumstances; propitious.

► Not interesting; dull:

3. Quotidian

► Everyday; commonplace.

► An underlying base or foundation especially for an organization or system.

► A circular strand of DNA in bacteria that contains the hereditary information necessary for cell life.

► A stock of terms used in a particular profession, subject, or style; a vocabulary:

4. Usurp

► To seize another’s place, authority, or possession wrongfully.

► Full of or exhibiting servile compliance; fawning.

► A reproductive cell having the haploid number of chromosomes, especially a mature sperm or egg capable of fusing with a gamete of the opposite sex to produce the fertilized egg.

► Deception by trickery or sophistry.

5. Gerrymander

► Lacking purpose or vitality; feeble or ineffective.

► To divide (a geographic area) into voting districts so as to give unfair advantage to one party in elections.

► To repeat in concise form. To make a summary.

► Playfully jocular; humorous

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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.