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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. Embargo

A preparation of a weakened or killed pathogen.

The locus of points for which the sum of the distances from each point to two fixed points is equal

To stress or emphasize; intensify

A prohibition by a government on certain or all trade with a foreign nation


2. Bizarre

A drawing consisting of the outline of something, especially a human profile, filled in with a solid color.

Sharing the same opinions or views; being in complete harmony or accord.

One thing conceived as representing another; a symbol.

Strikingly unconventional and far-fetched in style or appearance; odd


3. Analogy

The distance that light travels in a vacuum in one year.

Similarity in some respects between things that are otherwise dissimilar.

A state of uncertainty or perplexity.

A Y-shaped protein on the surface of B cells that is secreted into the blood or lymph in response to an antigenic stimulus


4. Jovial

A Y-shaped protein on the surface of B cells that is secreted into the blood or lymph in response to an antigenic stimulus

The branch of biology that deals with animals and animal life, including the study of the structure, physiology, development, and classification of animals.

Either of two times of the year when the sun is at its greatest distance from the celestial equator.

Marked by hearty conviviality and good cheer.


5. Enthusiastic

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

Having or demonstrating enthusiasm

A weather phenomenon in the Eastern Pacific that is precisely equivalent to a hurricane.

The arrangement of events in time


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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.