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 High 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. Chicanery

► Falling off or shed at a specific season or stage of growth:

► Deception by trickery or sophistry.

► Warlike in manner or temperament; pugnacious.

► Vacuously, smugly, and unconsciously foolish.

2. Parameter

► A factor that determines a range of variations; a boundary

► The science and technology of building electronic circuits and devices from single atoms and molecules.

► To increase the positive charge or valence of (an element) by removing electrons.

► The act or process of inhaling and exhaling; breathing.

3. Vortex

► A place or situation regarded as drawing into its center all that surrounds it.

► Physics that deals with the relationships and conversions between heat and other forms of energy.

► An underlying base or foundation especially for an organization or system.

► Either of two points on the celestial sphere at which the ecliptic intersects the celestial equator.

4. Gauche

► An underlying base or foundation especially for an organization or system.

► Either of two points on the celestial sphere at which the ecliptic intersects the celestial equator.

► To endow with the rights of citizenship, especially the right to vote.

► Lacking social polish; tactless.

5. Belie

► A form of government in which the political authority exercises absolute and centralized control over all aspects of life,

► To picture falsely; misrepresent.

► The basic unit of currency among participating European Union countries.

► Lacking or marked by a lack of self-confidence; shy and timid.

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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.