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. Hypotenuse
► The process in cell division by which the nucleus divides.
► Vanishing or likely to vanish like vapor.
► The side of a right triangle opposite the right angle.
► Lacking purpose or vitality; feeble or ineffective.
2. Tempestuous
► Something done or paid to compensate or make amends.
► The use of words to express something different from and often opposite to their literal meaning.
3. Unctuous
► Lacking social polish; tactless.
► Characterized by affected, exaggerated, or insincere earnestness.
► A system of names used in an art or science:
4. Totalitarian
► Attended by favorable circumstances; propitious.
► A stock of terms used in a particular profession, subject, or style; a vocabulary:
► Needless repetition of the same sense in different words; redundancy.
5. Oligarchy
► Government by a few, especially by a small faction of persons or families.
► A product of disintegration, destruction, or wearing away; debris.
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.