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.
Words in the News Quiz
5 High 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. Auspicious
► Attended by favorable circumstances; propitious.
► To abolish, do away with, or annul, especially by authority.
► To seize another’s place, authority, or possession wrongfully.
► A system of names used in an art or science:
2. Circumnavigate
► A system of names used in an art or science:
► Government by a few, especially by a small faction of persons or families.
► To proceed completely around:
3. Vacuous
► Falling off or shed at a specific season or stage of growth:
► Division into ordered groups or categories.
► Lacking serious purpose or occupation; idle.
4. Impeach
► A place or situation regarded as drawing into its center all that surrounds it.
► A stock of terms used in a particular profession, subject, or style; a vocabulary:
► To make an accusation against.
► The use of words to express something different from and often opposite to their literal meaning.
5. Jejune
► To weaken or destroy the strength or vitality of.
► Lacking or marked by a lack of self-confidence; shy and timid.
©2026 Boston Herald in Education and Online Publications Inc. and NIEonline.com
