Words in the News

This Week's Word In The News 

INSPECTOR

DEFINITION:
An official employed to ensure that official regulations are obeyed, especially in public services.

FOUND IN THE NEWS:
U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents are federal employees, and misconduct allegations are typically investigated by the agency’s Office of Professional Responsibility or by the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of inspector General.
The Key West Citizen, 03/16/2026

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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. Laconic

Something that is passed down from preceding generations; a tradition.

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

A grotesque ornamental figure or projection.

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


2. Nebula

An intricate structure of interconnecting passages through which it is difficult to find one’s way; a maze.

A diffuse mass of interstellar dust or gas or both, visible as luminous patches or areas of darkness

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

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. Analogy

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.

To move back or away from a limit, point, or mark

Of or relating to the range of invisible radiation wavelengths from about 4 nanometers, on the border of the x-ray region, to about 380 nanometers, just beyond the violet in the visible spectrum.

Similarity in some respects between things that are otherwise dissimilar.


4. Bizarre

A conventional, formulaic, and oversimplified conception, opinion, or image.

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

A Y-shaped protein on the surface of B cells that is secreted into the blood or lymph in response to an antigenic stimulus

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


5. Despondent

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

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.

Being without or almost without hope


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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.