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. Despondent

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

To take in by elaborate methods of deceit

Being without or almost without hope

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


2. Suffrage

An elevated, comparatively level expanse of land; a tableland.

Conversation between characters in a drama or narrative

The right or privilege of voting; franchise.

To have a great ambition or ultimate goal


3. Recede

Something that is passed down from preceding generations; a tradition.

An alteration or change, as in nature, form, or quality.

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

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


4. Cower

To cringe in fear

The main character in a drama or other literary work.

An ammunition belt, worn over the shoulder, having loops or pockets for cartridges.

A state of uncertainty or perplexity.


5. Ellipse

An ammunition belt, worn over the shoulder, having loops or pockets for cartridges.

A state of uncertainty or perplexity.

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

The locus of points for which the sum of the distances from each point to two fixed points is equal


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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.