Resources for Bay Area
Teachers and Students
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.
Words in the News Quiz
5 High 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. Usurp
► A system of names used in an art or science:
► To seize another’s place, authority, or possession wrongfully.
► Lacking serious purpose or occupation; idle.
2. Nihilism
► Characterized by affected, exaggerated, or insincere earnestness.
► An advocate of the extension of political voting rights, especially to women.
► A doctrine holding that all values are baseless and that nothing can be known or communicated.
► To repeat in concise form. To make a summary.
3. Tempestuous
► Government by a few, especially by a small faction of persons or families.
► Attended by favorable circumstances; propitious.
► Characterized by forcefulness of expression or intensity of emotion or conviction; fervid.
4. Lexicon
► A stock of terms used in a particular profession, subject, or style; a vocabulary:
► Something done or paid to compensate or make amends.
► The use of unnecessarily wordy and indirect language.
5. Expurgate
► The use of unnecessarily wordy and indirect language.