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. Vacillate

► The act of reasoning from factual knowledge or evidence.

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

► To swing indecisively from one course of action or opinion to another.

► Having or demonstrating enthusiasm

2. Quarantine

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

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

► Enforced isolation or restriction of free movement imposed to prevent the spread of contagious disease.

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

3. Virtuoso

► One who habitually takes advantage of the generosity of others without making any useful return.

► A preparation of a weakened or killed pathogen.

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

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

4. Tariff

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

► A schedule of prices or fees.

► A grotesque ornamental figure or projection.

► 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

5. Typhoon

► An embankment built to prevent flooding

► A weather phenomenon in the Eastern Pacific that is precisely equivalent to a hurricane.

► To cringe in fear

► Inspiring awe, admiration, or wonder

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.

SEGREGATED

Words in the News Quiz
5 Middle School Words

SEGREGATED
DEFINITION: Kept separate or treated differently according to race, sex, religion, etc.	FOUND IN THE NEWS: The other flag, dubbed “History,” is a nod to the Black experience in St. Petersburg, which was once heavily segregated. ►The Key West Citizen, 10/13/2025

SEGREGATED

Words in the News Quiz5 Middle School Words

Words in the News Quiz
5 Middle School Words