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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.
This Week's Word In The News 

ADVERSE

DEFINITION:
Having a negative or harmful effect on something.

FOUND IN THE NEWS:
There was no evidence of “any adverse or harmful chemical or other exposures,” he wrote.
The Boston Herald, 06/15/2026

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

A member of an irregular, usually indigenous military or paramilitary unit operating in small bands in occupied territory to harass and undermine the enemy

Conversation between characters in a drama or narrative

An embankment built to prevent flooding

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


2. Salmonella

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

Any of several rod-shaped bacteria, of the genus Salmonella, that cause food poisoning and other diseases.

A rebirth or revival.

A closed plane figure bounded by three or more line segments.


3. Vacillate

A closed plane figure bounded by three or more line segments.

Marked by hearty conviviality and good cheer.

A metric unit of length equal to 1,000 meters (0.62 mile).

To swing indecisively from one course of action or opinion to another.


4. Maneuver

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

A teacher and guide in spiritual and philosophical matters.

A movement or procedure involving skill and dexterity.

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


5. Mosaic

A picture or decorative design made by setting small colored pieces, as of stone or tile, into a surface.

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

An unstable, poisonous allotrope of oxygen.

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


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