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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 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. Parameter

► Cheerfully confident; optimistic.

► Lacking or marked by a lack of self-confidence; shy and timid.

► An advocate of the extension of political voting rights, especially to women.

► A factor that determines a range of variations; a boundary

2. Enervate

► Either of two points on the celestial sphere at which the ecliptic intersects the celestial equator.

► The basic unit of currency among participating European Union countries.

► To weaken or destroy the strength or vitality of.

► A reproductive cell having the haploid number of chromosomes, especially a mature sperm or egg capable of fusing with a gamete of the opposite sex to produce the fertilized egg.

3. Evanescent

► To impress (something) upon the mind of another by frequent instruction or repetition; instill.

► Vanishing or likely to vanish like vapor.

► Characterized by forcefulness of expression or intensity of emotion or conviction; fervid.

► Having one’s true identity concealed.

4. Impeach

► To proceed completely around:

► To make an accusation against.

► A circular strand of DNA in bacteria that contains the hereditary information necessary for cell life.

► An underlying base or foundation especially for an organization or system.

5. Contradiction

► Eating and drinking in moderation.

► To endow with the rights of citizenship, especially the right to vote.

► Logical incongruity

► Having unlimited or universal power, authority, or force; all-powerful.

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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.