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 Elementary 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. conspicuous

► The line that bounds a circle or other two-dimensional figure.

► Anticipating something with anxiety or fear.

► Speech or language that is incomprehensible or unintelligible; gibberish.

► Obvious or easy to notice.

2. waft

► Bizarre, strange

► Doubt, apprehension, a feeling of dread

► To bring down the size, quantity, value or intensity of something; to diminish, to lower, to impair.

► To cause to float easily or gently through the air

3. debris

► An assemblage or display; a gathering, collection of people or things.

► Disappointingly inadequate; gloomy and bleak.

► Scattered fragments, typically of something wrecked or destroyed

► A long flat-topped fixture in a store or bank across which business is conducted with customers.

4. convey

► The quality (positive or negative) that renders something desirable or valuable

► Make an idea, impression, or feeling known or understandable to someone.

► The fervor or tireless devotion for a person, cause, or ideal and determination in its furtherance; diligent enthusiasm; powerful interest.

► To come into view.

5. element

► One of the simplest or essential parts or principles of which anything consists, or upon which the constitution or fundamental powers of anything are based.

► To follow a winding course

► The force or energy of a collision of two objects.

► An individual step, or stage, in any process or scale of values.

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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.