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. Accentuate
► To stress or emphasize; intensify
► One who habitually takes advantage of the generosity of others without making any useful return.
2. Vaccine
► A movement or procedure involving skill and dexterity.
► A preparation of a weakened or killed pathogen.
3. Vacillate
► To swing indecisively from one course of action or opinion to another.
► A disorderly commotion or disturbance.
4. Despondent
► A metric unit of length equal to 1,000 meters (0.62 mile).
► The main character in a drama or other literary work.
► Being without or almost without hope
5. Xylem
► A person authorized to act as representative for another; a deputy.
► A fungus, usually of the class Ascomycetes, that grows symbiotically with algae,
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.