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Words in the News

This Week's Word In The News 

ARID

DEFINITION:
Being without moisture; extremely dry; parched.

FOUND IN THE NEWS:
The unpredictability of illegal fireworks make them dangerous in the arid desert climate, said Riddle, who is also bureau commander of Metro’s Northeast Area Command.
The Las Vegas Review-Journal, 06/30/2025

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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. Auspicious

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

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

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

Attended by favorable circumstances; propitious.


2. Precipitous

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

Extremely rapid, hasty, or abrupt; precipitate.

A reproductive cell having the haploid number of chromosomes, especially a mature sperm or egg capable of fusing with a gamete of the opposite sex to produce the fertilized egg.

To insert or introduce between other elements or parts.


3. Polymer

To insert or introduce between other elements or parts.

Vanishing or likely to vanish like vapor.

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

Any of numerous natural and synthetic compounds consisting of up to millions of repeated linked units,


4. Ziggurat

The side of a right triangle opposite the right angle.

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

The clear, yellowish fluid portion of blood, lymph, or intramuscular fluid in which cells are suspended.

A temple tower of the ancient Assyrians and Babylonians, having the form of a terraced pyramid of successively receding stories.


5. Reciprocal

Interchanged, given, or owed to each other.

Needless repetition of the same sense in different words; redundancy.

Everyday; commonplace.

To certify or attest to (the validity of a signature on a document, for example) as a notary public.


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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.