Words in the News

This Week's Word In The News 

PARLIAMENTARIAN

DEFINITION:
A consultant who advises the presiding officer and other officers, committees, and members on matters of parliamentary procedure.

FOUND IN THE NEWS:
Mia Cooper, a parliamentarian for the district, brought her daughter to district meetings and state-level education forums as the girl grew up.
The Los Angeles Times, 03/09/2026

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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. Protagonist

The distribution of energy emitted by a radiant source, arranged in order of wavelengths.

The main character in a drama or other literary work.

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

A proportional part or share.


2. Commemorate

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

A schedule of prices or fees.

To honor the memory of with a ceremony

The science and art of using all the forces of a nation to execute approved plans as effectively as possible during peace or war.


3. Maneuver

A movement or procedure involving skill and dexterity.

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

A diffuse mass of interstellar dust or gas or both, visible as luminous patches or areas of darkness

Having a buoyant or self-confident air; brisk.


4. Voracious

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

The distance that light travels in a vacuum in one year.

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

Grossly offensive to decency or morality.


5. Tranquility

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

The quality or state of being tranquil; serenity.

The act of reasoning from factual knowledge or evidence.

The pattern produced on a photosensitive medium that has been exposed by holography and then photographically developed.


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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.