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. Commemorate

► To honor the memory of with a ceremony

► A preparation of a weakened or killed pathogen.

► Incorrectness of reasoning or belief

► Conversation between characters in a drama or narrative

2. Guerrilla

► The practice of professing beliefs, feelings, or virtues that one does not hold or possess; falseness.

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

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

► Loud, noisy, and lacking in restraint or discipline

3. Solstice

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

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

► Either of two times of the year when the sun is at its greatest distance from the celestial equator.

► To rejoice greatly; be jubilant or triumphant

4. Laconic

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

► Grossly offensive to decency or morality.

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

► Any of various relatively small sailing or motor-driven vessels used for pleasure cruises or racing.

5. Quarantine

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

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

► A dense evergreen forest occupying a tropical region with an annual rainfall of at least 100 inches.

► Of or relating to the range of invisible radiation wavelengths from about 4 nanometers, on the border of the x-ray region, to about 380 nanometers, just beyond the violet in the visible spectrum.

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