Words in the News

This Week's Word In The News 

SUREFIRE

DEFINITION:
Certain or likely, especially to succeed.

FOUND IN THE NEWS:
Kirby taught himself how to count cards, a surefire way to get barred from gambling at a casino, “raking in money on trips to Atlantic City and Las Vegas,” the article stated.
The Las Vegas Review-Journal, 05/04/2026

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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. Abstemious

To abolish, do away with, or annul, especially by authority.

To renounce under oath; forswear.

Eating and drinking in moderation.

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


2. Gamete

Noninterference in the affairs of others.

A marked change in appearance, character, condition, or function.

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.

Needless repetition of the same sense in different words; redundancy.


3. Deleterious

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

Having a harmful effect; injurious.

To seize another’s place, authority, or possession wrongfully.

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


4. Bellicose

To show servile deference.

Impossible to dispute; unquestionable

Warlike in manner or temperament; pugnacious.

Quickness, accuracy, and keenness of judgment or insight.


5. Yeoman

Deception by trickery or sophistry.

A dramatic or literary form of discourse in which a character talks to himself or herself or reveals his or her thoughts without addressing a listener.

A diligent, dependable worker.

To increase the positive charge or valence of (an element) by removing electrons.


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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.