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Words in the News

This Week's Word In The News 

PETITIONER

DEFINITION:
A person who pleads with a governmental institution for a legal remedy or a redress of grievances, through the use of a petition.

FOUND IN THE NEWS:
While presenting the citizens’ petition for debate at the April 11 Spring Town Meeting, petitioners argued that ICE operations in Plymouth have “created fear” and “disrupted lives” among the immigrant community, leading to what they call a distrust of local police.
►The Boston Herald, 04/20/2026

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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. Heritage

► Marked by hearty conviviality and good cheer.

► The branch of biology that deals with animals and animal life, including the study of the structure, physiology, development, and classification of animals.

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

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

2. Deign

► A cult or religious movement, a group sharing particular (often unorthodox) political and/or religious beliefs.

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

► Strikingly unconventional and far-fetched in style or appearance; odd

► To condescend to give or grant

3. Laconic

► To proclaim publicly

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

► Harmful, malevolent, injurious. Harmfully cancerous.

► Using or marked by the use of few words; terse or concise.

4. Cower

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

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

► To cringe in fear

► The pattern produced on a photosensitive medium that has been exposed by holography and then photographically developed.

5. Recede

► Having or demonstrating enthusiasm

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

► Not subject to an obligation imposed on others; exempt.

► The right or privilege of voting; franchise.

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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.