Words in the News

This Week's Word In The News 

PETITIONER

DEFINITION:
A person who pleads with a governmental institution for a legal remedy or a redress of grievances, through the use of a petition.

FOUND IN THE NEWS:
While presenting the citizens’ petition for debate at the April 11 Spring Town Meeting, petitioners argued that ICE operations in Plymouth have “created fear” and “disrupted lives” among the immigrant community, leading to what they call a distrust of local police.
The Boston Herald, 04/20/2026

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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. Quandary

A state of uncertainty or perplexity.

Of, relating to, or occurring in the night

A dense evergreen forest occupying a tropical region with an annual rainfall of at least 100 inches.

A relationship of mutual benefit or dependence.


2. Zoology

The branch of biology that deals with animals and animal life, including the study of the structure, physiology, development, and classification of animals.

The drawing of a conclusion by reasoning; the act of deducing.

A person authorized to act as representative for another; a deputy.

The food-conducting tissue of vascular plants, consisting of sieve tubes, fibers, parenchyma, and sclereids.


3. Polygon

The food-conducting tissue of vascular plants, consisting of sieve tubes, fibers, parenchyma, and sclereids.

A member of an irregular, usually indigenous military or paramilitary unit operating in small bands in occupied territory to harass and undermine the enemy

A closed plane figure bounded by three or more line segments.

Grossly offensive to decency or morality.


4. Hieroglyphic

The locus of points for which the sum of the distances from each point to two fixed points is equal

A prohibition by a government on certain or all trade with a foreign nation

Self-examination.

Relating to a system of writing, such as that of ancient Egypt, in which pictorial symbols are used to represent meaning or sounds or a combination of meaning and sound.


5. Quarantine

Enforced isolation or restriction of free movement imposed to prevent the spread of contagious disease.

A disorderly commotion or disturbance.

A person with masterly skill or technique in the arts.

A treeless area between the icecap and the tree line of Arctic regions, having a permanently frozen subsoil and supporting low-growing vegetation


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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.