Words in the News

This Week's Word In The News 

HEIST

DEFINITION:
A robbery or burglary, especially from an institution such as a bank or museum.

FOUND IN THE NEWS:
Five suspects accused in connection with the heist were taken into custody late Wednesday, bringing the total arrest count to seven.
►The Las Vegas Review-Journal, 11/03/2025

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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. Outrageous

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

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

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

► Grossly offensive to decency or morality.

2. Xylem

► The supporting and water-conducting tissue of vascular plants, consisting primarily of tracheids and vessels; woody tissue.

► To swing indecisively from one course of action or opinion to another.

► An unstable, poisonous allotrope of oxygen.

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

3. Divulge

► The food-conducting tissue of vascular plants, consisting of sieve tubes, fibers, parenchyma, and sclereids.

► To proclaim publicly

► A fungus, usually of the class Ascomycetes, that grows symbiotically with algae,

► A schedule of prices or fees.

4. Stereotype

► Not subject to an obligation imposed on others; exempt.

► Having or demonstrating enthusiasm

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

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

5. Marsupial

► Being without or almost without hope

► Having no specific pattern, purpose, or objective.

► Any of various nonplacental mammals, including kangaroos, opossums, bandicoots, and wombats, found principally in Australia and the Americas.

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

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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.