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. Detritus
► A place or situation regarded as drawing into its center all that surrounds it.
► A product of disintegration, destruction, or wearing away; debris.
► Characterized by affected, exaggerated, or insincere earnestness.
► The basic unit of currency among participating European Union countries.
2. Oxidize
► Not limited to or associated with a particular religious denomination.
► To repeat in concise form. To make a summary.
► To increase the positive charge or valence of (an element) by removing electrons.
► To modify, as by shortening or simplifying or by skewing the content in a certain manner.
3. Nadir
► Interchanged, given, or owed to each other.
4. Oligarchy
► Government by a few, especially by a small faction of persons or families.
► Lacking or marked by a lack of self-confidence; shy and timid.
► The use of words to express something different from and often opposite to their literal meaning.
5. Jejune
► Having a harmful effect; injurious.
► To impress (something) upon the mind of another by frequent instruction or repetition; instill.
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.