Words in the News

This Week's Word In The News 

ROOSTER TAIL

DEFINITION:
A high-arching spray (as of water, dust, or snow) thrown up behind a fast-moving motorboat, motor vehicle, or skier.

FOUND IN THE NEWS:
A second red flag was waved during the fifth race of the day when Rollin Transport got into a rooster tail on the turn of the first lap, resulting in the boat going onto its side before flipping.
The Key West Citizen, 11/10/2025

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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. Laconic

One that is inconvenient, annoying, or vexatious; a bother.

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

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

A picture or decorative design made by setting small colored pieces, as of stone or tile, into a surface.


2. Boycott

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

Marked by hearty conviviality and good cheer.

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

The quality or state of being tranquil; serenity.


3. Fallacy

Incorrectness of reasoning or belief

The main character in a drama or other literary work.

The right or privilege of voting; franchise.

Conversation between characters in a drama or narrative


4. Embargo

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

A fungus, usually of the class Ascomycetes, that grows symbiotically with algae,

The arrangement of events in time

A schedule of prices or fees.


5. Aspire

To have a great ambition or ultimate goal

To grow well or luxuriantly; thrive

To honor the memory of with a ceremony

A poisonous substance, especially a protein, that is produced by living cells or organisms.


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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.