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. Mutation
► An alteration or change, as in nature, form, or quality.
► Loud, noisy, and lacking in restraint or discipline
► Having a buoyant or self-confident air; brisk.
2. Tranquility
► The quality or state of being tranquil; serenity.
3. Plateau
► Marked by hearty conviviality and good cheer.
► An elevated, comparatively level expanse of land; a tableland.
► Being without or almost without hope
► One thing conceived as representing another; a symbol.
4. Bizarre
► Strikingly unconventional and far-fetched in style or appearance; odd
► Exceeding the limits of propriety or good manners; improperly forward or bold
► Similarity in some respects between things that are otherwise dissimilar.
► One that speaks for, represents, or advocates
5. Laconic
► Using or marked by the use of few words; terse or concise.
► To have a great ambition or ultimate goal
► Conversation between characters in a drama or narrative
► Something that is passed down from preceding generations; a tradition.
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.