Words in the News

This Week's Word In The News 

OVERZEALOUS

DEFINITION:
Showing too much energy or enthusiasm in pursuit of a cause or objective.

FOUND IN THE NEWS:
Patrolmen’s Association, the city’s largest police union, attributed the encounter to an “overzealous poll worker who was complaining to the officer that the councilor shouldn’t have even been inside.”
The Boston Herald, 11/17/2025

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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. Sacrifice

A form of a verb that in some languages, such as English, can function independently as an adjective.

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

A person with masterly skill or technique in the arts.

Forfeiture of something highly valued for the sake of one considered to have a greater value or claim.


2. Bandolier

A grotesque ornamental figure or projection.

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

Inspiring awe, admiration, or wonder

Any of various nonplacental mammals, including kangaroos, opossums, bandicoots, and wombats, found principally in Australia and the Americas.


3. Accentuate

Any of various nonplacental mammals, including kangaroos, opossums, bandicoots, and wombats, found principally in Australia and the Americas.

A poisonous substance, especially a protein, that is produced by living cells or organisms.

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

To stress or emphasize; intensify


4. Suffrage

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

An unstable, poisonous allotrope of oxygen.

The right or privilege of voting; franchise.

The method or result of concealing personnel or equipment from an enemy by making them appear to be part of the natural surroundings


5. Heritage

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

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

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

The arrangement of events in time


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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.