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. Accentuate

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

An embankment built to prevent flooding

To stress or emphasize; intensify

One that speaks for, represents, or advocates


2. Decorum

A conventional, formulaic, and oversimplified conception, opinion, or image.

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.

An unstable, poisonous allotrope of oxygen.

Appropriateness of behavior or conduct


3. Nebula

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

One thing conceived as representing another; a symbol.

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

A diffuse mass of interstellar dust or gas or both, visible as luminous patches or areas of darkness


4. Parasite

A movement or procedure involving skill and dexterity.

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

Self-examination.

To cringe in fear


5. Toxin

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

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

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

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


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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.