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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. Ellipse

► Selecting or employing individual elements from a variety of sources, systems, or styles

► One that takes in everything available, as with the mind.

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

► The locus of points for which the sum of the distances from each point to two fixed points is equal

2. Accentuate

► Similarity in some respects between things that are otherwise dissimilar.

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

► To stress or emphasize; intensify

► The distance that light travels in a vacuum in one year.

3. Embargo

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

► A drawing consisting of the outline of something, especially a human profile, filled in with a solid color.

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

► A state of uncertainty or perplexity.

4. Delegate

► Having a backbone or spinal column.

► Either of two times of the year when the sun is at its greatest distance from the celestial equator.

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

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

5. Protagonist

► A movement or procedure involving skill and dexterity.

► The main character in a drama or other literary work.

► To rejoice greatly; be jubilant or triumphant

► 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.

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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.