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 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. Levee

Grossly offensive to decency or morality.

To pound, crush, or grind to a powder or dust.

An embankment built to prevent flooding

A relationship of mutual benefit or dependence.


2. Tsunami

A proportional part or share.

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

A very large and destructive wave, generally caused by a tremendous disturbance in the ocean, such as an undersea earthquake or volcanic eruption.

Either of two times of the year when the sun is at its greatest distance from the celestial equator.


3. Guru

A teacher and guide in spiritual and philosophical matters.

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

Harmful, malevolent, injurious. Harmfully cancerous.

Exceeding the limits of propriety or good manners; improperly forward or bold


4. Divulge

To proclaim publicly

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

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

Incorrectness of reasoning or belief


5. Spectrum

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

Incorrectness of reasoning or belief

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

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


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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.