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Words in the News

This Week's Word In The News 

FOOTHOLD

DEFINITION:
A position usable as a base for further advance.

FOUND IN THE NEWS:
Growing national anxiety over the impact of massive data centers on communities has found a foothold in Greater Boston in the form of Markley’s Lowell location.
The Boston Herald, 08/10/2026

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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. Metamorphosis

Interchanged, given, or owed to each other.

Having a bad disposition; surly.

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

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


2. Temblor

The process in cell division by which the nucleus divides.

Shaking and vibration at the surface of the earth resulting from underground movement along a fault plane.

To show servile deference.

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.


3. Bowdlerize

Not limited to or associated with a particular religious denomination.

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

Architectural.

An advocate of the extension of political voting rights, especially to women.


4. Vortex

An advocate of the extension of political voting rights, especially to women.

Falling off or shed at a specific season or stage of growth:

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

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


5. Contradiction

Of the same or similar nature or kind

Logical incongruity

To insert or introduce between other elements or parts.

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.