Words in the News

This Week's Word In The News 

ADVERSE

DEFINITION:
Having a negative or harmful effect on something.

FOUND IN THE NEWS:
There was no evidence of “any adverse or harmful chemical or other exposures,” he wrote.
►The Boston Herald, 06/15/2026

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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. Circumnavigate

► To proceed completely around:

► A person unduly fearful or contemptuous of that which is foreign, especially of strangers or foreign peoples.

► Of, relating to, or produced by motion.

► Any of numerous natural and synthetic compounds consisting of up to millions of repeated linked units,

2. Nihilism

► A doctrine holding that all values are baseless and that nothing can be known or communicated.

► Lacking social polish; tactless.

► 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.

► The use of unnecessarily wordy and indirect language.

3. Wrought

► Characterized by forcefulness of expression or intensity of emotion or conviction; fervid.

► Put together; created.

► To make an accusation against.

► Division into ordered groups or categories.

4. Vortex

► Division into ordered groups or categories.

► Not interesting; dull:

► Lacking serious purpose or occupation; idle.

► A place or situation regarded as drawing into its center all that surrounds it.

5. Totalitarian

► A form of government in which the political authority exercises absolute and centralized control over all aspects of life,

► Tumultuous; stormy.

► Of the same or similar nature or kind

► The art or study of correct spelling according to established usage.

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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.