TIE | The Los Angeles Times in Education

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. Plateau

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

► A preparation of a weakened or killed pathogen.

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

► An elevated, comparatively level expanse of land; a tableland.

2. Tempo

► A characteristic rate or rhythm of activity; a pace

► A Y-shaped protein on the surface of B cells that is secreted into the blood or lymph in response to an antigenic stimulus

► Self-examination.

3. Strategy

► Self-examination.

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

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

► An ammunition belt, worn over the shoulder, having loops or pockets for cartridges.

4. Delegate

► Having no specific pattern, purpose, or objective.

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

► One that takes in everything available, as with the mind.

► To have a great ambition or ultimate goal

5. Embargo

► To have a great ambition or ultimate goal

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

► The drawing of a conclusion by reasoning; the act of deducing.

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

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.

OVERZEALOUS

Words in the News Quiz
5 Middle School Words

OVERZEALOUS
DEFINITION: Showing too much energy or enthusiasm in pursuit of a cause or objective.	FOUND IN THE NEWS: Patrolmen’s Association, the city’s largest police union, attributed the encounter to an “overzealous poll worker who was complaining to the officer that the councilor shouldn’t have even been inside.” ►The Boston Herald, 11/17/2025

OVERZEALOUS

Words in the News Quiz5 Middle School Words

Words in the News Quiz
5 Middle School Words