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Words in the News

This Week's Word In The News 

WILDFIRE

DEFINITION:
An unplanned and uncontrolled fire in an area of combustible vegetation.

FOUND IN THE NEWS:
It was not yet clear how the wildfires started, but a long drought, low humidity and strong winds were fueling them.
The Key West Citizen, 04/27/2026

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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. Hieroglyphic

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

A picture or decorative design made by setting small colored pieces, as of stone or tile, into a surface.

Being without or almost without hope

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.


2. Inference

The act of reasoning from factual knowledge or evidence.

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

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

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


3. Ozone

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

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

The branch of biology that deals with animals and animal life, including the study of the structure, physiology, development, and classification of animals.

An unstable, poisonous allotrope of oxygen.


4. Malignant

To cringe in fear

Harmful, malevolent, injurious. Harmfully cancerous.

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

A preparation of a weakened or killed pathogen.


5. Vertebrate

A cult or religious movement, a group sharing particular (often unorthodox) political and/or religious beliefs.

Having a backbone or spinal column.

Having a buoyant or self-confident air; brisk.

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


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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.