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Words in the News

This Week's Word In The News 

WILDFIRE

DEFINITION:
An unplanned and uncontrolled fire in an area of combustible vegetation.

FOUND IN THE NEWS:
It was not yet clear how the wildfires started, but a long drought, low humidity and strong winds were fueling them.
►The Key West Citizen, 04/27/2026

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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. Labyrinth

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

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

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

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

2. Spectrum

► A schedule of prices or fees.

► The distribution of energy emitted by a radiant source, arranged in order of wavelengths.

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

► To proclaim publicly

3. Salmonella

► Any of several rod-shaped bacteria, of the genus Salmonella, that cause food poisoning and other diseases.

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

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

► The quality or state of being tranquil; serenity.

4. Mutation

► The quality or state of being tranquil; serenity.

► To stress or emphasize; intensify

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

► A metric unit of length equal to 1,000 meters (0.62 mile).

5. Deduction

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

► To move in waves or with a smooth, wavelike motion.

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

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

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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.