Words in the News

This Week's Word In The News 

INCARCERATED

DEFINITION:
Confined in a jail or prison.

FOUND IN THE NEWS:
The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation is restricting access to rehabilitative programming for incarcerated people as it clamps down on overtime spending before the end of its financial year.
The Los Angeles Times, 06/29/2026

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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. Expurgate

To repeat in concise form. To make a summary.

A sudden manifestation of the essence or meaning of something.

To remove erroneous, vulgar, obscene, or otherwise objectionable material from (a book, for example) before publication.

Lacking purpose or vitality; feeble or ineffective.


2. Facetious

To increase the positive charge or valence of (an element) by removing electrons.

The lowest point

Playfully jocular; humorous

Having unlimited or universal power, authority, or force; all-powerful.


3. Ziggurat

To impress (something) upon the mind of another by frequent instruction or repetition; instill.

A marked change in appearance, character, condition, or function.

Noninterference in the affairs of others.

A temple tower of the ancient Assyrians and Babylonians, having the form of a terraced pyramid of successively receding stories.


4. Precipitous

Lacking or marked by a lack of self-confidence; shy and timid.

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

Full of or exhibiting servile compliance; fawning.

Extremely rapid, hasty, or abrupt; precipitate.


5. Vacuous

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

Vacuously, smugly, and unconsciously foolish.

Lacking serious purpose or occupation; idle.

Division into ordered groups or categories.


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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.