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Words in the News

This Week's Word In The News 

PETITIONER

DEFINITION:
A person who pleads with a governmental institution for a legal remedy or a redress of grievances, through the use of a petition.

FOUND IN THE NEWS:
While presenting the citizens’ petition for debate at the April 11 Spring Town Meeting, petitioners argued that ICE operations in Plymouth have “created fear” and “disrupted lives” among the immigrant community, leading to what they call a distrust of local police.
The Boston Herald, 04/20/2026

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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. Heritage

A metric unit of length equal to 1,000 meters (0.62 mile).

Something that is passed down from preceding generations; a tradition.

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

Similarity in some respects between things that are otherwise dissimilar.


2. Salmonella

Similarity in some respects between things that are otherwise dissimilar.

Enforced isolation or restriction of free movement imposed to prevent the spread of contagious disease.

A weather phenomenon in the Eastern Pacific that is precisely equivalent to a hurricane.

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


3. Ellipse

Appropriateness of behavior or conduct

The right or privilege of voting; franchise.

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

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.


4. Eclectic

One that speaks for, represents, or advocates

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

A movement or procedure involving skill and dexterity.

To have a great ambition or ultimate goal


5. Formidable

A disorderly commotion or disturbance.

Incorrectness of reasoning or belief

Inspiring awe, admiration, or wonder

A grotesque ornamental figure or projection.


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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.