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Words in the News

This Week's Word In The News 

BACKLOT

DEFINITION:
An area behind or adjoining a movie studio containing permanent exterior buildings for outdoor scenes in filmmaking or television productions.

FOUND IN THE NEWS:
Los Angeles City Councilmember Nithya Raman, who serves the 4th District, makes her way across an empty, unnamed backlot, presenting her case to be the city’s next mayor.
►The Los Angeles Times, 05/18/2026

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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. Polygon

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

► A closed plane figure bounded by three or more line segments.

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

► To take in by elaborate methods of deceit

2. Guru

► A teacher and guide in spiritual and philosophical matters.

► One that is inconvenient, annoying, or vexatious; a bother.

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

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

3. Tariff

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

► A schedule of prices or fees.

► The right or privilege of voting; franchise.

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

4. Stereotype

► Sharing the same opinions or views; being in complete harmony or accord.

► A conventional, formulaic, and oversimplified conception, opinion, or image.

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

► Of, relating to, or occurring in the night

5. Cower

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

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

► To cringe in fear

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

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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.

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