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 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. Vaccine

The supporting and water-conducting tissue of vascular plants, consisting primarily of tracheids and vessels; woody tissue.

Being without or almost without hope

The quality or state of being tranquil; serenity.

A preparation of a weakened or killed pathogen.


2. Hypocrisy

Grossly offensive to decency or morality.

A relationship of mutual benefit or dependence.

The practice of professing beliefs, feelings, or virtues that one does not hold or possess; falseness.

To honor the memory of with a ceremony


3. Protagonist

Exceeding the limits of propriety or good manners; improperly forward or bold

Conversation between characters in a drama or narrative

Sharing the same opinions or views; being in complete harmony or accord.

The main character in a drama or other literary work.


4. Boycott

To abstain from or act together in abstaining from using, buying, or dealing with as an expression of protest or disfavor or as a means of coercion

Harmful, malevolent, injurious. Harmfully cancerous.

Any of various nonplacental mammals, including kangaroos, opossums, bandicoots, and wombats, found principally in Australia and the Americas.

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


5. Ultraviolet

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

One that takes in everything available, as with the mind.

Of or relating to the range of invisible radiation wavelengths from about 4 nanometers, on the border of the x-ray region, to about 380 nanometers, just beyond the violet in the visible spectrum.

A disorderly commotion or disturbance.


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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.