Words in the News

This Week's Word In The News 

INSPECTOR

DEFINITION:
An official employed to ensure that official regulations are obeyed, especially in public services.

FOUND IN THE NEWS:
U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents are federal employees, and misconduct allegations are typically investigated by the agency’s Office of Professional Responsibility or by the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of inspector General.
The Key West Citizen, 03/16/2026

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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. Pulverize

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

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

Loud, noisy, and lacking in restraint or discipline

The systematic procedure by which a complex or scientific task is accomplished.


2. Virtuoso

The systematic procedure by which a complex or scientific task is accomplished.

The drawing of a conclusion by reasoning; the act of deducing.

A metric unit of length equal to 1,000 meters (0.62 mile).

A person with masterly skill or technique in the arts.


3. Labyrinth

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

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

One that takes in everything available, as with the mind.

A dense evergreen forest occupying a tropical region with an annual rainfall of at least 100 inches.


4. Typhoon

One that takes in everything available, as with the mind.

A dense evergreen forest occupying a tropical region with an annual rainfall of at least 100 inches.

One thing conceived as representing another; a symbol.

A weather phenomenon in the Eastern Pacific that is precisely equivalent to a hurricane.


5. Solstice

Of or relating to the range of invisible radiation wavelengths from about 4 nanometers, on the border of the x-ray region, to about 380 nanometers, just beyond the violet in the visible spectrum.

The main character in a drama or other literary work.

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

A grotesque ornamental figure or projection.


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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.