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
► To seize another’s place, authority, or possession wrongfully.
► The basic unit of currency among participating European Union countries.
► Government by a few, especially by a small faction of persons or families.
► Full of or exhibiting servile compliance; fawning.
2. Pecuniary
► Vanishing or likely to vanish like vapor.
► Eating and drinking in moderation.
3. Totalitarian
► Mournful, dismal, or gloomy, especially to an exaggerated or ludicrous degree.
► A factor that determines a range of variations; a boundary
4. Vacuous
► The use of words to express something different from and often opposite to their literal meaning.
► Having a bad disposition; surly.
► Lacking serious purpose or occupation; idle.
► The iron-containing respiratory pigment in red blood cells of vertebrates.
5. Contradiction
► The act or process of inhaling and exhaling; breathing.
► Vacuously, smugly, and unconsciously foolish.
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.