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. Tranquility

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

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

► 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

► The quality or state of being tranquil; serenity.

2. Guerrilla

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

► A member of an irregular, usually indigenous military or paramilitary unit operating in small bands in occupied territory to harass and undermine the enemy

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

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

3. Toxin

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

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

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

► A poisonous substance, especially a protein, that is produced by living cells or organisms.

4. Embargo

► Sharing the same opinions or views; being in complete harmony or accord.

► A prohibition by a government on certain or all trade with a foreign nation

► To cringe in fear

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

5. Renegade

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

► One who rejects a religion, cause, allegiance, or group for another; a deserter.

► The act of resting or the state of being at rest.

► Something that is passed down from preceding generations; a tradition.

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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.