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Words in the News

This Week's Word In The News 

ROOSTER TAIL

DEFINITION:
A high-arching spray (as of water, dust, or snow) thrown up behind a fast-moving motorboat, motor vehicle, or skier.

FOUND IN THE NEWS:
A second red flag was waved during the fifth race of the day when Rollin Transport got into a rooster tail on the turn of the first lap, resulting in the boat going onto its side before flipping.
The Key West Citizen, 11/10/2025

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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. Impertinent

Exceeding the limits of propriety or good manners; improperly forward or bold

A movement or procedure involving skill and dexterity.

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

Inspiring awe, admiration, or wonder


2. Sacrifice

To cringe in fear

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

Strikingly unconventional and far-fetched in style or appearance; odd

One thing conceived as representing another; a symbol.


3. Jovial

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

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

Marked by hearty conviviality and good cheer.

A closed plane figure bounded by three or more line segments.


4. Technique

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

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

The systematic procedure by which a complex or scientific task is accomplished.

To honor the memory of with a ceremony


5. Vertebrate

A dense evergreen forest occupying a tropical region with an annual rainfall of at least 100 inches.

Having a backbone or spinal column.

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

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.


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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.