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Words in the News

This Week's Word In The News 

RUINOUS

DEFINITION:
Causing, or tending to cause, ruin; destructive; baneful; pernicious.

FOUND IN THE NEWS:
Fire officials are used to battling large fires this time of year, but a ruinous combination of extreme conditions and challenging geography hampered early efforts.
The Los Angeles Times, 11/11/2024

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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. Jejune

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

Either of two points on the celestial sphere at which the ecliptic intersects the celestial equator.

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

Not interesting; dull:


2. Supercilious

Division into ordered groups or categories.

Feeling or showing haughty disdain.

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

Impossible to dispute; unquestionable


3. Detritus

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

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

A product of disintegration, destruction, or wearing away; debris.

Lacking social polish; tactless.


4. Laissez faire

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

Physics that deals with the relationships and conversions between heat and other forms of energy.

To proceed completely around:

Noninterference in the affairs of others.


5. Reciprocal

Extremely rapid, hasty, or abrupt; precipitate.

Interchanged, given, or owed to each other.

To insert or introduce between other elements or parts.

A diligent, dependable worker.


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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.