What does "quiz" mean?
An odd, puzzling or absurd person or thing.
Quiz
/kwɪz/ noun, verb
noun, verb ·Common ·High school level
Meaning at a glance
- Primary sense: An odd, puzzling or absurd person or thing.
- Grammar: quiz is listed as noun, verb.
- Nearest alternatives: administer, ap physics assessment, ask, asking.
- Useful contrasts: instructional exercises, practice activity, three digit number practice.
- Usage evidence: The boy took great pains to solve the quiz.
How to use "quiz"
- Start with the primary definition, then check the part of speech before placing the word in a sentence.
- Compare nearby synonyms to make sure "quiz" carries the exact meaning, tone, and strength you need.
- Use the example sentence as a context check. If your sentence uses the word differently, confirm that the grammar still fits.
Meaning check
- Does the word fit the sentence's grammar?
- Does it match the intended tone rather than only the dictionary definition?
- Would a simpler synonym be clearer for the reader?
- Is there enough surrounding context to prevent ambiguity?
Source and review context
This entry combines structured lexical data with WordToolSet review checks. Definitions, examples, synonyms, and usage notes may come from different source tables, so the page is designed to show evidence from more than one angle before you rely on "quiz" in a final draft.
If a word has several senses, prefer the sense that matches your sentence's grammar and surrounding context. A correct definition can still be the wrong choice when the sentence needs a different register, emphasis, or level of specificity.
Before you rely on this definition
Read the first definition as a starting point, then check the example, synonyms, and part of speech before treating "quiz" as the right word for your sentence.
If your draft is formal, technical, persuasive, or sensitive, compare "quiz" with a nearby alternative so the final choice matches both meaning and reader expectation.
Compare nearby meanings
- Use synonyms when you need a softer, stronger, simpler, or more specific word.
- Use antonyms to check the boundary of the meaning and avoid accidental contrast.
- Use the example sentence to confirm the word behaves naturally in context.
- Keep the original wording when a replacement adds complexity without improving precision.
Definition decision workflow
1. Identify the role
Check whether "quiz" is acting as noun, verb in your sentence. A definition is only useful when the grammar matches the way the word is being used.
2. Test the nearest option
Compare it with "administer" and other nearby choices to see whether the sentence needs a softer, stronger, or more familiar word.
3. Confirm with context
Use the example sentence below as an evidence check, then read your own sentence out loud to catch tone or rhythm problems.
Review note: Definition pages are checked for source coverage, sentence evidence, synonym support, and editorial insight before they are treated as approval-ready pages. If the evidence is too thin, the page remains available to users but is kept out of the approval-facing indexed inventory.
Final meaning check
Before publishing a sentence with "quiz", ask whether the word helps the reader understand the idea faster. A precise word should reduce confusion, not simply make the sentence look more polished.
When the definition, synonym evidence, and example context point in the same direction, the word is usually a safer choice. When they conflict, revise the sentence or choose a clearer alternative.
Definitions
Noun
- 1 An odd, puzzling or absurd person or thing. dated
"I've always heard he was a quiz, says another, or a quoz, or some such word ; but I did not know he was such a book-worm."
- 2 an examination consisting of a few short questions wordnet
- 3 One who questions or interrogates; a prying person. dated
- 4 A competition in the answering of questions.
"We came second in the pub quiz."
- 5 A school examination of less importance, or of greater brevity, than others given in the same course.
"For many it is hard to envision a scenario where a student completes an online quiz (or test) without using their smartphone, tablet, or other device to look up the answers, or ‘share’ those answers with other students."
Verb
- 1 To hoax; to chaff or mock with pretended seriousness of discourse; to make sport of, as by obscure questions. archaic, transitive
"he quizzed unmercifully all the men in the room—"
- 2 examine someone's knowledge of something wordnet
- 3 To peer at; to eye suspiciously or mockingly. archaic, transitive
- 4 To question (someone) closely, to interrogate. transitive
"He quizzed the suspect for around half an hour."
- 5 To instruct (someone) by means of a quiz. transitive
Show 1 more definition
- 6 To play with a quiz. obsolete, rare, transitive
Synonyms
All synonymsAntonyms
instructional exercisespractice activitythree digit number practicewriting-intensive assignment
Example
"The boy took great pains to solve the quiz."
Common questions
What is a synonym for "quiz"?
Common synonyms include: administer, ap physics assessment, ask, asking, audition, banter.
How do you use "quiz" in a sentence?
The boy took great pains to solve the quiz.
How do you pronounce "quiz"?
Pronounced /kwɪz/.
Etymology
Attested since the 1780s, of unknown origin. * The Century Dictionary suggests it was originally applied to a popular toy, from a dialectal variant of whiz. * The Random House Dictionary suggests the original sense was "odd person" (circa 1780). * Others suggest the meaning "hoax" was original (1796), shifting to the meaning "interrogate" (1847) under the influence of question and inquisitive. * Some say without evidence it was invented by a late-18th-century Dublin theatre proprietor who bet he could add a new nonsense word to the English language; he had the word painted on walls all over the city, and the morning after, everyone was talking about it (The Pre-Victorian Drama in Dublin). * Others suggest it was originally quies (1847), Latin qui es? (who are you?), traditionally the first question in oral Latin exams. They suggest that it was first used as a noun from 1867, and the spelling quiz first recorded in 1886, but this is demonstrably incorrect. * A further derivation, assuming that the original sense is "good, ingenuous, harmless man, overly conventional, pedantic, rule-bound man, square; nerd; oddball, eccentric", is based on a column from 1785 which claims that the origin is a jocular translation of the Horace quotation vir bonus est quis as "the good man is a quiz" at Cambridge.