Words in the News

This Week's Word In The News 

WILDFIRE

DEFINITION:
An unplanned and uncontrolled fire in an area of combustible vegetation.

FOUND IN THE NEWS:
It was not yet clear how the wildfires started, but a long drought, low humidity and strong winds were fueling them.
The Key West Citizen, 04/27/2026

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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. Symbiosis

Inspiring awe, admiration, or wonder

The distance that light travels in a vacuum in one year.

A relationship of mutual benefit or dependence.

A characteristic rate or rhythm of activity; a pace


2. Alliteration

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

A grotesque ornamental figure or projection.

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

The quality or state of being tranquil; serenity.


3. Boisterous

The quality or state of being tranquil; serenity.

One who habitually takes advantage of the generosity of others without making any useful return.

Loud, noisy, and lacking in restraint or discipline

One that takes in everything available, as with the mind.


4. Zoology

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

The practice of professing beliefs, feelings, or virtues that one does not hold or possess; falseness.

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

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


5. Inference

The act of reasoning from factual knowledge or evidence.

Strikingly unconventional and far-fetched in style or appearance; odd

Of, relating to, or occurring in the night

A movement or procedure involving skill and dexterity.


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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.