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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 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. Rainforest

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

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

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

► A metric unit of length equal to 1,000 meters (0.62 mile).

2. Mutation

► Marked by hearty conviviality and good cheer.

► An alteration or change, as in nature, form, or quality.

► The right or privilege of voting; franchise.

► Having a backbone or spinal column.

3. Bamboozle

► Having a backbone or spinal column.

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

► A rebirth or revival.

► To take in by elaborate methods of deceit

4. Voracious

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

► To honor the memory of with a ceremony

► The method or result of concealing personnel or equipment from an enemy by making them appear to be part of the natural surroundings

► An embankment built to prevent flooding

5. Eclectic

► A teacher and guide in spiritual and philosophical matters.

► Selecting or employing individual elements from a variety of sources, systems, or styles

► A relationship of mutual benefit or dependence.

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

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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.

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