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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 

INCARCERATED

DEFINITION:
Confined in a jail or prison.

FOUND IN THE NEWS:
The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation is restricting access to rehabilitative programming for incarcerated people as it clamps down on overtime spending before the end of its financial year.
The Los Angeles Times, 06/29/2026

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. Rainforest

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

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

A schedule of prices or fees.

One thing conceived as representing another; a symbol.


2. Yacht

One thing conceived as representing another; a symbol.

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

A movement or procedure involving skill and dexterity.

Any of various relatively small sailing or motor-driven vessels used for pleasure cruises or racing.


3. Formidable

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

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

Inspiring awe, admiration, or wonder

The food-conducting tissue of vascular plants, consisting of sieve tubes, fibers, parenchyma, and sclereids.


4. Salmonella

To grow well or luxuriantly; thrive

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

Loud, noisy, and lacking in restraint or discipline

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


5. Solstice

Either of two times of the year when the sun is at its greatest distance from the celestial equator.

A relationship of mutual benefit or dependence.

A grotesque ornamental figure or projection.

To move back or away from a limit, point, or mark


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