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. Gargoyle

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

Harmful, malevolent, injurious. Harmfully cancerous.

The quality or state of being tranquil; serenity.

A grotesque ornamental figure or projection.


2. Yacht

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

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

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

Forfeiture of something highly valued for the sake of one considered to have a greater value or claim.


3. Bizarre

Strikingly unconventional and far-fetched in style or appearance; odd

In a deplorable state of distress or misfortune; miserable.

A drawing consisting of the outline of something, especially a human profile, filled in with a solid color.

Loud, noisy, and lacking in restraint or discipline


4. Bamboozle

Loud, noisy, and lacking in restraint or discipline

A characteristic rate or rhythm of activity; a pace

To take in by elaborate methods of deceit

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


5. Nebula

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

A movement or procedure involving skill and dexterity.

The supporting and water-conducting tissue of vascular plants, consisting primarily of tracheids and vessels; woody tissue.


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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.