TIE | The Los Angeles Times in Education

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. Renaissance

► A rebirth or revival.

► A proportional part or share.

► The quality or state of being tranquil; serenity.

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

2. Despondent

► Being without or almost without hope

► Conversation between characters in a drama or narrative

► An intricate structure of interconnecting passages through which it is difficult to find one’s way; a maze.

► To abstain from or act together in abstaining from using, buying, or dealing with as an expression of protest or disfavor or as a means of coercion

3. Bizarre

► To abstain from or act together in abstaining from using, buying, or dealing with as an expression of protest or disfavor or as a means of coercion

► Having or demonstrating enthusiasm

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

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

4. Strategy

► A member of an irregular, usually indigenous military or paramilitary unit operating in small bands in occupied territory to harass and undermine the enemy

► The science and art of using all the forces of a nation to execute approved plans as effectively as possible during peace or war.

► To honor the memory of with a ceremony

► The repetition of the same sounds or of the same kinds of sounds at the beginning of words or in stressed syllables

5. Symbiosis

► To rejoice greatly; be jubilant or triumphant

► A relationship of mutual benefit or dependence.

► In a deplorable state of distress or misfortune; miserable.

► A person with masterly skill or technique in the arts.

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.

SUREFIRE

Words in the News Quiz
5 Middle School Words

SUREFIRE
DEFINITION: Certain or likely, especially to succeed.	FOUND IN THE NEWS: Kirby taught himself how to count cards, a surefire way to get barred from gambling at a casino, “raking in money on trips to Atlantic City and Las Vegas,” the article stated. ►The Las Vegas Review-Journal, 05/04/2026

SUREFIRE

Words in the News Quiz5 Middle School Words

Words in the News Quiz
5 Middle School Words