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

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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. Vehement

An underlying base or foundation especially for an organization or system.

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

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

To remove erroneous, vulgar, obscene, or otherwise objectionable material from (a book, for example) before publication.


2. Enfranchise

Overbearing pride or presumption; arrogance.

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

To endow with the rights of citizenship, especially the right to vote.

A sudden manifestation of the essence or meaning of something.


3. Sanguine

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

A circular strand of DNA in bacteria that contains the hereditary information necessary for cell life.

Cheerfully confident; optimistic.

A diligent, dependable worker.


4. Supercilious

Vacuously, smugly, and unconsciously foolish.

Feeling or showing haughty disdain.

Attended by favorable circumstances; propitious.

Either of two points on the celestial sphere at which the ecliptic intersects the celestial equator.


5. Reciprocal

Not limited to or associated with a particular religious denomination.

A part, portion, or share.

Interchanged, given, or owed to each other.

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


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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.