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. Guru

To abstain from or act together in abstaining from using, buying, or dealing with as an expression of protest or disfavor or as a means of coercion

A disorderly commotion or disturbance.

A teacher and guide in spiritual and philosophical matters.

One who habitually takes advantage of the generosity of others without making any useful return.


2. Xylem

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

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

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

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


3. Hieroglyphic

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

A picture or decorative design made by setting small colored pieces, as of stone or tile, into a surface.

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.

Self-examination.


4. Plateau

To honor the memory of with a ceremony

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

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

To cringe in fear


5. Chronology

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

A state of uncertainty or perplexity.

The arrangement of events in time

To stress or emphasize; intensify


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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.