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Words in the News

This Week's Word In The News 

PETITIONER

DEFINITION:
A person who pleads with a governmental institution for a legal remedy or a redress of grievances, through the use of a petition.

FOUND IN THE NEWS:
While presenting the citizens’ petition for debate at the April 11 Spring Town Meeting, petitioners argued that ICE operations in Plymouth have “created fear” and “disrupted lives” among the immigrant community, leading to what they call a distrust of local police.
The Boston Herald, 04/20/2026

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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. Kilometer

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

A metric unit of length equal to 1,000 meters (0.62 mile).

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

Incorrectness of reasoning or belief


2. Nuisance

One that is inconvenient, annoying, or vexatious; a bother.

Of, relating to, or occurring in the night

A preparation of a weakened or killed pathogen.

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


3. Tsunami

A preparation of a weakened or killed pathogen.

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

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

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


4. Bamboozle

An unstable, poisonous allotrope of oxygen.

To take in by elaborate methods of deceit

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

To grow well or luxuriantly; thrive


5. Ellipse

To cringe in fear

The locus of points for which the sum of the distances from each point to two fixed points is equal

A weather phenomenon in the Eastern Pacific that is precisely equivalent to a hurricane.

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


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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.