Words in the News

This Week's Word In The News 

DISCERN

DEFINITION:
To see, recognize, or understand something that is not clear.

FOUND IN THE NEWS:
As you can discern, we have a rather complex group of vehicle violations that need to be cured.
►The Las Vegas Review-Journal, 10/26/2026

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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. Photosynthesis

► Lacking social polish; tactless.

► Government by a few, especially by a small faction of persons or families.

► The process in green plants and certain other organisms by which carbohydrates are synthesized from carbon dioxide and water using light as an energy source.

► Falling off or shed at a specific season or stage of growth:


2. Tectonic

► To weaken or destroy the strength or vitality of.

► Architectural.

► Of, relating to, or produced by motion.

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


3. Inculcate

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

► A stock of terms used in a particular profession, subject, or style; a vocabulary:

► Having a harmful effect; injurious.

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


4. Irony

► The use of words to express something different from and often opposite to their literal meaning.

► A reproductive cell having the haploid number of chromosomes, especially a mature sperm or egg capable of fusing with a gamete of the opposite sex to produce the fertilized egg.

► Cheerfully confident; optimistic.

► A temple tower of the ancient Assyrians and Babylonians, having the form of a terraced pyramid of successively receding stories.


5. Hegemony

► Cheerfully confident; optimistic.

► A temple tower of the ancient Assyrians and Babylonians, having the form of a terraced pyramid of successively receding stories.

► Having one’s true identity concealed.

► The predominant influence, as of a state, region, or group, over another or others.


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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.