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

Generate your own quiz
Select a grade level
 Elementary
 Middle School
 High School
Select a quiz type
 By words
 By Definitions
Select how many questions
5   10   15   20  

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. Tundra

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

The act of reasoning from factual knowledge or evidence.

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

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


2. Cower

To rejoice greatly; be jubilant or triumphant

To cringe in fear

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

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.


3. Pulverize

Similarity in some respects between things that are otherwise dissimilar.

To pound, crush, or grind to a powder or dust.

Any of various relatively small sailing or motor-driven vessels used for pleasure cruises or racing.

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


4. Hologram

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

Loud, noisy, and lacking in restraint or discipline

The systematic procedure by which a complex or scientific task is accomplished.

A proportional part or share.


5. Accentuate

To stress or emphasize; intensify

Grossly offensive to decency or morality.

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

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


Get more Quizzes 

 Elementary School    Middle School   High School  

 By Word     By Definition    5  10  15  20 Questions

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.