Words in the News

This Week's Word In The News 

OVERZEALOUS

DEFINITION:
Showing too much energy or enthusiasm in pursuit of a cause or objective.

FOUND IN THE NEWS:
Patrolmen’s Association, the city’s largest police union, attributed the encounter to an “overzealous poll worker who was complaining to the officer that the councilor shouldn’t have even been inside.”
►The Boston Herald, 11/17/2025

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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. Zoology

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

► Consuming or eager to consume great amounts of food; ravenous.

► The quality or state of being tranquil; serenity.

► The branch of biology that deals with animals and animal life, including the study of the structure, physiology, development, and classification of animals.

2. Laconic

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

► To rejoice greatly; be jubilant or triumphant

► Having a backbone or spinal column.

► A preparation of a weakened or killed pathogen.

3. Gargoyle

► A grotesque ornamental figure or projection.

► Having or demonstrating enthusiasm

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

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

4. Jovial

► Having a buoyant or self-confident air; brisk.

► Marked by hearty conviviality and good cheer.

► Any of various relatively small sailing or motor-driven vessels used for pleasure cruises or racing.

► An embankment built to prevent flooding

5. Labyrinth

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

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

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

► Incorrectness of reasoning or belief

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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.