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Words in the News

This Week's Word In The News 

ACQUAINTANCE

DEFINITION:
A person one knows slightly, but who is not a close friend.

FOUND IN THE NEWS:
When photographer Peter Turnley was just 20 years old, an acquaintance from the California Office of Economic Opportunity reached out to him with a question.
The Los Angeles Times, 12/01/2025

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Words in the News Quiz
5 Middle 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. Stereotype

Any of various nonplacental mammals, including kangaroos, opossums, bandicoots, and wombats, found principally in Australia and the Americas.

The science and art of using all the forces of a nation to execute approved plans as effectively as possible during peace or war.

A poisonous substance, especially a protein, that is produced by living cells or organisms.

A conventional, formulaic, and oversimplified conception, opinion, or image.


2. Quandary

To cringe in fear

Appropriateness of behavior or conduct

An alteration or change, as in nature, form, or quality.

A state of uncertainty or perplexity.


3. Wretched

In a deplorable state of distress or misfortune; miserable.

An ammunition belt, worn over the shoulder, having loops or pockets for cartridges.

To take in by elaborate methods of deceit

To abstain from or act together in abstaining from using, buying, or dealing with as an expression of protest or disfavor or as a means of coercion


4. Deduction

The drawing of a conclusion by reasoning; the act of deducing.

The quality or state of being tranquil; serenity.

A diffuse mass of interstellar dust or gas or both, visible as luminous patches or areas of darkness

A dense evergreen forest occupying a tropical region with an annual rainfall of at least 100 inches.


5. Pulverize

A dense evergreen forest occupying a tropical region with an annual rainfall of at least 100 inches.

Being without or almost without hope

To pound, crush, or grind to a powder or dust.

A fungus, usually of the class Ascomycetes, that grows symbiotically with algae,


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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.