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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. Laconic

► The arrangement of events in time

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

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

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

2. Boisterous

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

► Loud, noisy, and lacking in restraint or discipline

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

► Conversation between characters in a drama or narrative

3. Toxin

► Harmful, malevolent, injurious. Harmfully cancerous.

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

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

► A grotesque ornamental figure or projection.

4. Tariff

► A schedule of prices or fees.

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

► Having a backbone or spinal column.

► Marked by hearty conviviality and good cheer.

5. Rainforest

► Marked by hearty conviviality and good cheer.

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

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

► To have a great ambition or ultimate goal

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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.