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. Boisterous

► Loud, noisy, and lacking in restraint or discipline

► A member of an irregular, usually indigenous military or paramilitary unit operating in small bands in occupied territory to harass and undermine the enemy

► A form of a verb that in some languages, such as English, can function independently as an adjective.

► The arrangement of events in time

2. Nebula

► The arrangement of events in time

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

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

► A person with masterly skill or technique in the arts.

3. Nuisance

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

► Self-examination.

► A rebirth or revival.

► One that is inconvenient, annoying, or vexatious; a bother.

4. Parasite

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

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

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

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

5. Omnivore

► An ammunition belt, worn over the shoulder, having loops or pockets for cartridges.

► A state of uncertainty or perplexity.

► The science and art of using all the forces of a nation to execute approved plans as effectively as possible during peace or war.

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

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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.