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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 High 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. Polymer

A product of disintegration, destruction, or wearing away; debris.

To separate or get rid of (an undesirable part); eliminate.

Any of numerous natural and synthetic compounds consisting of up to millions of repeated linked units,

To picture falsely; misrepresent.


2. Quotidian

Having a harmful effect; injurious.

The process in green plants and certain other organisms by which carbohydrates are synthesized from carbon dioxide and water using light as an energy source.

Everyday; commonplace.

To modify, as by shortening or simplifying or by skewing the content in a certain manner.


3. Parabola

Either of two points on the celestial sphere at which the ecliptic intersects the celestial equator.

A set of assumptions, concepts, values, and practices that constitutes a way of viewing reality

The use of unnecessarily wordy and indirect language.

A plane curve formed by the intersection of a right circular cone and a plane parallel to an element of the cone.


4. Vortex

To repeat in concise form. To make a summary.

A factor that determines a range of variations; a boundary

A place or situation regarded as drawing into its center all that surrounds it.

To divide (a geographic area) into voting districts so as to give unfair advantage to one party in elections.


5. Sanguine

Not limited to or associated with a particular religious denomination.

To certify or attest to (the validity of a signature on a document, for example) as a notary public.

To endow with the rights of citizenship, especially the right to vote.

Cheerfully confident; optimistic.


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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.