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. Light-Year

► A treeless area between the icecap and the tree line of Arctic regions, having a permanently frozen subsoil and supporting low-growing vegetation

► A very large and destructive wave, generally caused by a tremendous disturbance in the ocean, such as an undersea earthquake or volcanic eruption.

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

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

2. Flourish

► A proportional part or share.

► To honor the memory of with a ceremony

► Grossly offensive to decency or morality.

► To grow well or luxuriantly; thrive

3. Enthusiastic

► 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.

► Having or demonstrating enthusiasm

► To have a great ambition or ultimate goal

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

4. Bamboozle

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

► Self-examination.

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

► To take in by elaborate methods of deceit

5. Tariff

► An embankment built to prevent flooding

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

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

► A schedule of prices or fees.

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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.