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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.
This Week's Word In The News 

FOOTHOLD

DEFINITION:
A position usable as a base for further advance.

FOUND IN THE NEWS:
Growing national anxiety over the impact of massive data centers on communities has found a foothold in Greater Boston in the form of Markley’s Lowell location.
The Boston Herald, 08/10/2026

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. Voracious

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

Consuming or eager to consume great amounts of food; ravenous.

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

The main character in a drama or other literary work.


2. Impertinent

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

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

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

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


3. Mosaic

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

A characteristic rate or rhythm of activity; a pace

A rebirth or revival.

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


4. Delegate

A person authorized to act as representative for another; a deputy.

To condescend to give or grant

A proportional part or share.

Having no specific pattern, purpose, or objective.


5. Toxin

A proportional part or share.

Having no specific pattern, purpose, or objective.

An unstable, poisonous allotrope of oxygen.

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


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