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Words in the News

This Week's Word In The News 

VERTEBRAE

DEFINITION:
Each of the series of small bones forming the backbone.

FOUND IN THE NEWS:
The photographer with The Washington Post who was attacked by Jewish settlers in the occupied West Bank so badly that several vertebrae were broken said Sunday she was increasingly angry that Israel’s military seems to protect settlers more than the Palestinians they threaten.
►Associated Press, 10/19/2026

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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. Lucid

► To bring under control; conquer.

► Clear to the understanding.

► Vacuously, smugly, and unconsciously foolish.

► A factor that determines a range of variations; a boundary


2. Metamorphosis

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

► To weaken or destroy the strength or vitality of.

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

► Very talkative; garrulous.


3. Hemoglobin

► The predominant influence, as of a state, region, or group, over another or others.

► The iron-containing respiratory pigment in red blood cells of vertebrates.

► To divide (a geographic area) into voting districts so as to give unfair advantage to one party in elections.

► The basic unit of currency among participating European Union countries.


4. Chicanery

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

► Deception by trickery or sophistry.

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

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


5. Infrastructure

► An extremely distant, and thus old, celestial object whose power output is several thousand times that of our entire galaxy.

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

► Government by a few, especially by a small faction of persons or families.

► Logical incongruity


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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.