This Week in Words: Current Events Vocab for November 1–November 7, 2025

The number of absentees in U.S. schools is starting to decline from its peak of 28 percent in 2022, during the pandemic. Research has linked missing school with lower academic achievement and higher drop-out rates. Students are considered chronically absent if they miss more than 10 percent of school days. New analysis shows that many states are successfully attracting more kids back to school. Absentee is from the Latin absentem, meaning "be away from."

Five German mountaineers were killed by an avalanche in Northern Italy. The climbers were at 11,500 feet on the Cima Vertana, in the Ortler Alps, when they were swept away by the heavy mass of snow moving down the mountain. A spokesman for an Italian rescue organization said that there is a higher risk of avalanches in November, when the first snow falling on partially frozen ground causes instability. Avalanche is from the Romansch avalantze, "descent."

A 14-year study showed that walking just 3,000 steps a day slowed rates of cognitive decline in Alzheimer's patients. Researchers found that brain changes occurred more slowly in participants who increased their rates of exercise. By walking 3,000 steps, patients delayed their loss of memory and language by three years. Those who walked 7,000 daily steps slowed their cognitive deterioration by seven years. Cognitive is from the Latin cognoscere, "to recognize."

Musicals that were considered fiascos when they opened — and quickly closed — are finding success as middle- and high school productions. Once Upon a One More Time, a Cinderella-themed show featuring the music of Britney Spears, flopped after just three months on Broadway. Away from the big-theater context, and newly licensed for student performances, plays like this one are taking on new life among enthusiastic young thespians, going from fiasco to smash hit.

Zohran Mamdani defeated former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo to become the youngest mayor of New York City since 1892. Mamdani, who will also be the city's first Muslim mayor, ran on a platform of ideological change. He is a Democratic socialist with progressive political ideas whose campaign emphasized worker and immigrant rights and promised a more affordable city. Ideological comes from the French idéologie, "science of ideas."

India's national women's cricket team overcame what seemed like insurmountable hurdles to win the Cricket World Cup. The team defeated South Africa on November 2 to claim its first winning trophy. The victory signals a monumental cultural change in a country where women's sports have traditionally been underfunded and under-resourced. The women's cricket team also had to overcome its long history of panicking under pressure, a tendency that appeared inevitable until this week's triumph.

A powerful earthquake struck Afghanistan, killing at least 26 people and damaging a mosque that is one of the country’s most important religious landmarks. The 6.3-magnitude quake rattled Mazar-i-Sharif, shaking turquoise and lapis tiles off the ornate minarets and walls of the 15th-century Blue Mosque in the city center. The Arabic root of mosque is masjid, "temple, place of worship."

A new form of mosquito control involves olfactory deception and a deadly fungus. Researchers genetically engineered Metarhizium, an infectious fungus that's long been used as a biological insecticide, so that it emitted a sweet-smelling substance. They found that mosquitoes couldn't resist the sugary scent: Between 90 and 100 percent of them were killed by the fungus in lab experiments. Olfactory derives from the Latin olfacere, "to get the scent of."

U.S. businesses are facing a paucity of pennies. The Treasury Department announced earlier this year that it is winding down penny production. Several Federal Reserve Bank sites have stopped distributing the one-cent coins, leading to a dwindling supply in circulation. As pennies become more scarce, many retailers are rounding prices up or down to the nearest five cents for cash payments. Paucity is derived from the Latin paucus, "few."

The identity of a mysterious figure who appeared in the window of a Mexican government building several months ago is still a mystery. After a ghostly silhouette was spotted during a protest in San Luis Potosí, Governor Ricardo Gallardo Cardona suggested it was a specter. He said security cameras failed to capture anyone in the room, and that workers often report glimpsing an apparition moving around the supposedly empty building. The Latin root of specter means "vision."