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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. Levee

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

An embankment built to prevent flooding

An intricate structure of interconnecting passages through which it is difficult to find one’s way; a maze.

One thing conceived as representing another; a symbol.


2. Rainforest

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

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

The distribution of energy emitted by a radiant source, arranged in order of wavelengths.

Appropriateness of behavior or conduct


3. Hologram

The distribution of energy emitted by a radiant source, arranged in order of wavelengths.

Appropriateness of behavior or conduct

A disorderly commotion or disturbance.

The pattern produced on a photosensitive medium that has been exposed by holography and then photographically developed.


4. Fallacy

One that takes in everything available, as with the mind.

To move back or away from a limit, point, or mark

In a deplorable state of distress or misfortune; miserable.

Incorrectness of reasoning or belief


5. Inference

To condescend to give or grant

The method or result of concealing personnel or equipment from an enemy by making them appear to be part of the natural surroundings

The act of reasoning from factual knowledge or evidence.

To cringe in fear


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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.