Words in the News

This Week's Word In The News 

INCOMPREHENSIBLE

DEFINITION:
Impossible to understand or comprehend.

FOUND IN THE NEWS:
“What is incomprehensible is that the structure the Commission chose is now being used to justify not carrying out the monitoring at all,” she said.
The Key West Citizen, 04/06/2026

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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. Spectrum

The pattern produced on a photosensitive medium that has been exposed by holography and then photographically developed.

Something that is passed down from preceding generations; a tradition.

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.

The distribution of energy emitted by a radiant source, arranged in order of wavelengths.


2. Ozone

An embankment built to prevent flooding

An unstable, poisonous allotrope of oxygen.

Having a backbone or spinal column.

Not subject to an obligation imposed on others; exempt.


3. Laconic

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

Using or marked by the use of few words; terse or concise.

A grotesque ornamental figure or projection.

A Y-shaped protein on the surface of B cells that is secreted into the blood or lymph in response to an antigenic stimulus


4. Vacillate

One thing conceived as representing another; a symbol.

To swing indecisively from one course of action or opinion to another.

Forfeiture of something highly valued for the sake of one considered to have a greater value or claim.

A form of a verb that in some languages, such as English, can function independently as an adjective.


5. Plateau

Either of two times of the year when the sun is at its greatest distance from the celestial equator.

An elevated, comparatively level expanse of land; a tableland.

A very large and destructive wave, generally caused by a tremendous disturbance in the ocean, such as an undersea earthquake or volcanic eruption.

Consuming or eager to consume great amounts of food; ravenous.


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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.