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 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. Moiety

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

A part, portion, or share.

A circular strand of DNA in bacteria that contains the hereditary information necessary for cell life.

Extremely rapid, hasty, or abrupt; precipitate.


2. Nonsectarian

Extremely rapid, hasty, or abrupt; precipitate.

Of or relating to a holding of something in trust for another.

An extremely distant, and thus old, celestial object whose power output is several thousand times that of our entire galaxy.

Not limited to or associated with a particular religious denomination.


3. Interpolate

A set of assumptions, concepts, values, and practices that constitutes a way of viewing reality

An advocate of the extension of political voting rights, especially to women.

A plane curve formed by the intersection of a right circular cone and a plane parallel to an element of the cone.

To insert or introduce between other elements or parts.


4. Parameter

The process in cell division by which the nucleus divides.

To certify or attest to (the validity of a signature on a document, for example) as a notary public.

Government by a few, especially by a small faction of persons or families.

A factor that determines a range of variations; a boundary


5. Quotidian

A product of disintegration, destruction, or wearing away; debris.

Quickness, accuracy, and keenness of judgment or insight.

A dramatic or literary form of discourse in which a character talks to himself or herself or reveals his or her thoughts without addressing a listener.

Everyday; commonplace.


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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.