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. Hieroglyphic

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

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

Relating to a system of writing, such as that of ancient Egypt, in which pictorial symbols are used to represent meaning or sounds or a combination of meaning and sound.

Similarity in some respects between things that are otherwise dissimilar.


2. Parasite

One who habitually takes advantage of the generosity of others without making any useful return.

The act of resting or the state of being at rest.

A characteristic rate or rhythm of activity; a pace

A weather phenomenon in the Eastern Pacific that is precisely equivalent to a hurricane.


3. Stereotype

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

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

A preparation of a weakened or killed pathogen.

A cult or religious movement, a group sharing particular (often unorthodox) political and/or religious beliefs.


4. Levee

An embankment built to prevent flooding

A movement or procedure involving skill and dexterity.

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

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


5. Formidable

Inspiring awe, admiration, or wonder

Self-examination.

Grossly offensive to decency or morality.

Either of two times of the year when the sun is at its greatest distance from the celestial equator.


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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.