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. Outrageous

► A form of a verb that in some languages, such as English, can function independently as an adjective.

► The act of reasoning from factual knowledge or evidence.

► Grossly offensive to decency or morality.

► Marked by hearty conviviality and good cheer.

2. Introspection

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

► Self-examination.

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

► Incorrectness of reasoning or belief

3. Exponent

► Incorrectness of reasoning or belief

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

► A preparation of a weakened or killed pathogen.

► One that speaks for, represents, or advocates

4. Labyrinth

► To have a great ambition or ultimate goal

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

► To condescend to give or grant

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

5. Salmonella

► A treeless area between the icecap and the tree line of Arctic regions, having a permanently frozen subsoil and supporting low-growing vegetation

► Any of several rod-shaped bacteria, of the genus Salmonella, that cause food poisoning and other diseases.

► The main character in a drama or other literary work.

► 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.

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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.