Words in the News

This Week's Word In The News 

MITIGATION

DEFINITION:
The action of reducing the severity, seriousness, or painfulness of something.

FOUND IN THE NEWS:
But after years of record investment by the state in such wildfire risk mitigation, two key money sources are drying up, potentially reducing the state’s annual budget for vegetation removal by hundreds of millions of dollars.
►The Los Angeles Times, 06/01/2026

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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. Paradigm

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

► Very talkative; garrulous.

► Of or relating to a holding of something in trust for another.

► A set of assumptions, concepts, values, and practices that constitutes a way of viewing reality

2. Yeoman

► Deception by trickery or sophistry.

► A diligent, dependable worker.

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

► Not limited to or associated with a particular religious denomination.

3. Diffident

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

► Lacking social polish; tactless.

► To modify, as by shortening or simplifying or by skewing the content in a certain manner.

► Overbearing pride or presumption; arrogance.

4. Feckless

► Overbearing pride or presumption; arrogance.

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

► Lacking purpose or vitality; feeble or ineffective.

► The process in green plants and certain other organisms by which carbohydrates are synthesized from carbon dioxide and water using light as an energy source.

5. Enervate

► Logical incongruity

► To weaken or destroy the strength or vitality of.

► The lowest point

► 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.

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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.