Words in the News

This Week's Word In The News 

IMPROBABLE

DEFINITION:
Unlikely to take place under the circumstances or in the usual course of events.

FOUND IN THE NEWS:
That’s where Democratic candidates are trying to accomplish the improbable by flipping a pair of Trump-friendly congressional seats and carving into Republicans’ narrow 218 to 213 majority in the U.S. House of Representatives.
The Key West Citizen-Herald, 03/31/2025

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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. Renaissance

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

Conversation between characters in a drama or narrative

The main character in a drama or other literary work.

A rebirth or revival.


2. Pulverize

Of, relating to, or occurring in the night

To pound, crush, or grind to a powder or dust.

To proclaim publicly

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


3. Tumult

A disorderly commotion or disturbance.

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

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

A grotesque ornamental figure or projection.


4. Random

Of or relating to the range of invisible radiation wavelengths from about 4 nanometers, on the border of the x-ray region, to about 380 nanometers, just beyond the violet in the visible spectrum.

Having no specific pattern, purpose, or objective.

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

The locus of points for which the sum of the distances from each point to two fixed points is equal


5. Hypocrisy

The locus of points for which the sum of the distances from each point to two fixed points is equal

An elevated, comparatively level expanse of land; a tableland.

An unstable, poisonous allotrope of oxygen.

The practice of professing beliefs, feelings, or virtues that one does not hold or possess; falseness.


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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.