Words in the News

This Week's Word In The News 

RESPIRATORY

DEFINITION:
Relating to breathing.

FOUND IN THE NEWS:
They weren’t warned to wear respiratory and other personal protection because the burning composite materials from the F-35 stealth fighter were releasing potentially harmful airborne particles and fibers, according to the lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Albuquerque.
The Albuquerque Journal, 03/30/2026

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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. Technique

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

A prohibition by a government on certain or all trade with a foreign nation

Of, relating to, or occurring in the night

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


2. Vacillate

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

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

To swing indecisively from one course of action or opinion to another.

The act of resting or the state of being at rest.


3. Pulverize

The food-conducting tissue of vascular plants, consisting of sieve tubes, fibers, parenchyma, and sclereids.

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

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

Relating to a system of writing, such as that of ancient Egypt, in which pictorial symbols are used to represent meaning or sounds or a combination of meaning and sound.


4. Metaphor

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.

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

A fungus, usually of the class Ascomycetes, that grows symbiotically with algae,

One thing conceived as representing another; a symbol.


5. Guru

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

Sharing the same opinions or views; being in complete harmony or accord.

A teacher and guide in spiritual and philosophical matters.

Any of several rod-shaped bacteria, of the genus Salmonella, that cause food poisoning and other diseases.


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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.