Words in the News

This Week's Word In The News 

ABJECT

DEFINITION:
Utterly hopeless, miserable, humiliating, or wretched.

FOUND IN THE NEWS:
In a succinct and devastating assessment, the head of the Texas Department of Public Safety told lawmakers Tuesday that the delayed law enforcement response to the gunman inside a Uvalde elementary school was an "abject failure" that ignored lessons from previous school shootings.
►The Amarillo Globe-News, 06/27/2022

Generate your own quiz
Select a grade level
 Elementary
 Middle School
 High School
Select a quiz type
 By words
 By Definitions
Select how many questions
5   10   15   20  

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. Xylem

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

► Consuming or eager to consume great amounts of food; ravenous.

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

► The quality or state of being tranquil; serenity.

2. Sect

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

► Having a buoyant or self-confident air; brisk.

► To rejoice greatly; be jubilant or triumphant

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

3. Antibody

► A Y-shaped protein on the surface of B cells that is secreted into the blood or lymph in response to an antigenic stimulus

► A prohibition by a government on certain or all trade with a foreign nation

► Using or marked by the use of few words; terse or concise.

► Something that is passed down from preceding generations; a tradition.

4. Tariff

► Using or marked by the use of few words; terse or concise.

► Something that is passed down from preceding generations; a tradition.

► A form of a verb that in some languages, such as English, can function independently as an adjective.

► A schedule of prices or fees.

5. Quota

► A teacher and guide in spiritual and philosophical matters.

► A proportional part or share.

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

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

Get more Quizzes 

 Elementary School    Middle School   High School  

 By Word     By Definition    5  10  15  20 Questions

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.