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. Renegade

One who rejects a religion, cause, allegiance, or group for another; a deserter.

Incorrectness of reasoning or belief

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

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


2. Polygon

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

Inspiring awe, admiration, or wonder

A closed plane figure bounded by three or more line segments.

A Y-shaped protein on the surface of B cells that is secreted into the blood or lymph in response to an antigenic stimulus


3. Lichen

A person authorized to act as representative for another; a deputy.

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

Having or demonstrating enthusiasm

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


4. Tranquility

The quality or state of being tranquil; serenity.

Not subject to an obligation imposed on others; exempt.

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

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.


5. Deduction

To rejoice greatly; be jubilant or triumphant

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

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

Consuming or eager to consume great amounts of food; ravenous.


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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.