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. Xylem

► Having or demonstrating enthusiasm

► The supporting and water-conducting tissue of vascular plants, consisting primarily of tracheids and vessels; woody tissue.

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

► A relationship of mutual benefit or dependence.

2. Vacillate

► A relationship of mutual benefit or dependence.

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

► The practice of professing beliefs, feelings, or virtues that one does not hold or possess; falseness.

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

3. Deduction

► To honor the memory of with a ceremony

► Any of various nonplacental mammals, including kangaroos, opossums, bandicoots, and wombats, found principally in Australia and the Americas.

► The drawing of a conclusion by reasoning; the act of deducing.

► A state of uncertainty or perplexity.

4. Tranquility

► A movement or procedure involving skill and dexterity.

► The quality or state of being tranquil; serenity.

► To move back or away from a limit, point, or mark

► The distribution of energy emitted by a radiant source, arranged in order of wavelengths.

5. Nebula

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

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

► Self-examination.

► Selecting or employing individual elements from a variety of sources, systems, or styles

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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.