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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. Parasite

One who habitually takes advantage of the generosity of others without making any useful return.

An embankment built to prevent flooding

Selecting or employing individual elements from a variety of sources, systems, or styles

The supporting and water-conducting tissue of vascular plants, consisting primarily of tracheids and vessels; woody tissue.


2. Deign

The supporting and water-conducting tissue of vascular plants, consisting primarily of tracheids and vessels; woody tissue.

The act of resting or the state of being at rest.

To condescend to give or grant

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


3. Sect

Self-examination.

A cult or religious movement, a group sharing particular (often unorthodox) political and/or religious beliefs.

A grotesque ornamental figure or projection.

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


4. Bandolier

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

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

In a deplorable state of distress or misfortune; miserable.

An elevated, comparatively level expanse of land; a tableland.


5. Tundra

A treeless area between the icecap and the tree line of Arctic regions, having a permanently frozen subsoil and supporting low-growing vegetation

Relating to a system of writing, such as that of ancient Egypt, in which pictorial symbols are used to represent meaning or sounds or a combination of meaning and sound.

Forfeiture of something highly valued for the sake of one considered to have a greater value or claim.

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.