Words in the News

This Week's Word In The News 

PLOY

DEFINITION:
A cunning plan or action designed to turn a situation to one's own advantage.

FOUND IN THE NEWS:
“First of all, I think it’s important to recognize that the majority of the American people find this behavior deeply troubling,” said the 44th president, conceding that it does serve as an effective distraction and ploy for attention.
►The Boston Herald, 02/16/2026

Generate your own quiz
Select a grade level
 Elementary
 Middle School
 High School
Select a quiz type
 By words
 By Definitions
Select how many questions
5   10   15   20  

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. Mitosis

► A doctrine holding that all values are baseless and that nothing can be known or communicated.

► Characterized by forcefulness of expression or intensity of emotion or conviction; fervid.

► The process in cell division by which the nucleus divides.

► Of the same or similar nature or kind

2. Inculcate

► To impress (something) upon the mind of another by frequent instruction or repetition; instill.

► Mournful, dismal, or gloomy, especially to an exaggerated or ludicrous degree.

► Physics that deals with the relationships and conversions between heat and other forms of energy.

► A plane curve formed by the intersection of a right circular cone and a plane parallel to an element of the cone.

3. Contradiction

► Lacking purpose or vitality; feeble or ineffective.

► Logical incongruity

► Cheerfully confident; optimistic.

► Attended by favorable circumstances; propitious.

4. Detritus

► A product of disintegration, destruction, or wearing away; debris.

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

► Lacking or marked by a lack of self-confidence; shy and timid.

► A set of assumptions, concepts, values, and practices that constitutes a way of viewing reality

5. Respiration

► Tumultuous; stormy.

► The act or process of inhaling and exhaling; breathing.

► Characterized by affected, exaggerated, or insincere earnestness.

► Interchanged, given, or owed to each other.

Get more Quizzes 

 Elementary School    Middle School   High School  

 By Word     By Definition    5  10  15  20 Questions

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.