Words in the News

This Week's Word In The News 

WILDFIRE

DEFINITION:
An unplanned and uncontrolled fire in an area of combustible vegetation.

FOUND IN THE NEWS:
It was not yet clear how the wildfires started, but a long drought, low humidity and strong winds were fueling them.
►The Key West Citizen, 04/27/2026

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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. Gargoyle

► A person authorized to act as representative for another; a deputy.

► A grotesque ornamental figure or projection.

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

► An alteration or change, as in nature, form, or quality.

2. Accentuate

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

► To stress or emphasize; intensify

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

► To move in waves or with a smooth, wavelike motion.

3. Laconic

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

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

► Any of various relatively small sailing or motor-driven vessels used for pleasure cruises or racing.

► Forfeiture of something highly valued for the sake of one considered to have a greater value or claim.

4. Tranquility

► The quality or state of being tranquil; serenity.

► To take in by elaborate methods of deceit

► An elevated, comparatively level expanse of land; a tableland.

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

5. Pulverize

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

► To pound, crush, or grind to a powder or dust.

► A movement or procedure involving skill and dexterity.

► To have a great ambition or ultimate goal

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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.