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. Boycott

► To abstain from or act together in abstaining from using, buying, or dealing with as an expression of protest or disfavor or as a means of coercion

► A schedule of prices or fees.

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

► A relationship of mutual benefit or dependence.

2. Virtuoso

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

► A person with masterly skill or technique in the arts.

► To swing indecisively from one course of action or opinion to another.

► Similarity in some respects between things that are otherwise dissimilar.

3. Zoology

► Similarity in some respects between things that are otherwise dissimilar.

► A picture or decorative design made by setting small colored pieces, as of stone or tile, into a surface.

► The systematic procedure by which a complex or scientific task is accomplished.

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

4. Nocturnal

► Marked by hearty conviviality and good cheer.

► Of, relating to, or occurring in the night

► To take in by elaborate methods of deceit

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

5. Jaunty

► Having a buoyant or self-confident air; brisk.

► Inspiring awe, admiration, or wonder

► 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.

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

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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.