Words in the News

This Week's Word In The News 

OVERZEALOUS

DEFINITION:
Showing too much energy or enthusiasm in pursuit of a cause or objective.

FOUND IN THE NEWS:
Patrolmen’s Association, the city’s largest police union, attributed the encounter to an “overzealous poll worker who was complaining to the officer that the councilor shouldn’t have even been inside.”
The Boston Herald, 11/17/2025

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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. Deign

Exceeding the limits of propriety or good manners; improperly forward or bold

Inspiring awe, admiration, or wonder

To condescend to give or grant

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


2. Salmonella

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

Any of several rod-shaped bacteria, of the genus Salmonella, that cause food poisoning and other diseases.

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

An alteration or change, as in nature, form, or quality.


3. Symbiosis

A state of uncertainty or perplexity.

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

A relationship of mutual benefit or dependence.

Having no specific pattern, purpose, or objective.


4. Phloem

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

The repetition of the same sounds or of the same kinds of sounds at the beginning of words or in stressed syllables

The quality or state of being tranquil; serenity.

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


5. Immune

Not subject to an obligation imposed on others; exempt.

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.

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

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


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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.