If you can’t stop talking about yourself and obsess constantly about the way you look, you could be exhibiting narcissistic tendencies, meaning you're obsessed with yourself, especially your outside appearance.
Scholarly types may know that the word narcissistic is related to the Greek myth of Narcissus, a boy known for his good looks who after angered the gods, fell in love with his reflection in a pool. Narcissus wasted away there, too fascinated with his looks to save his own life. A narcissistic person may suffer a similar fate. The adjective narcissisticdescribes those who are excessively self-absorbed, especially about their looks.
Something that's verifiable can be proven. In a courtroom, verifiable evidence is backed up with specific proof.
If you have a birth certificate, your exact time and place of birth is verifiable — in other words, you can prove where and when you were born. Something is scientifically verifiable if it can be tested and proven to be true. Verifiable comes from the verb verify, "authenticate" or "prove," from the Old French verifier, "find out the truth about." The Latin root is verus, or "true."
Formative is a word that describes something that made you who you are. You might call your adolescence your formative years because that time period had such a strong influence on the rest of your life.
Formidable describes a foe you're slightly afraid of, but formative describes what formed you. Perhaps a formidable gym teacher told you to get the lead out during your formative years in grade school, and now you're a world-class athlete. (Or a bookworm, depending on how you react to formidable foes.)
The word form means “to shape.” Something that is formative is capable of shaping or molding something or someone. A formative experience is one that strongly influenced you, like the first time you went…
Use quasi when you want to say something is almost but not quite what it describes. A quasi mathematician can add and subtract adequately, but has trouble figuring out fractions.
The adjective quasi is often hyphenated with the word it resembles. Quasi-scientific ideas are ideas that resemble real science, but haven't been backed up with any real evidence. A quasi-religious person may attend church services, but he doesn't take much interest in what's being said. Get the idea? It's a great alternative for "kind of."
A confession is an admission of guilt, fault, or a mistake.
You’ve probably seen TV shows or movies where a detective says to a suspect "Confess!" The detective is trying to get a confession, which is a statement that admits some type of guilt. "I killed the mayor!" is a confession. "I forgot your birthday" is a confession. In some religions, confession is a sacrament where people admit their sins and seek forgiveness. When people have something painful to admit, they often start by saying, "I have a confession to make."
A farce is a broad satire or comedy, though now it's used to describe something that is supposed to be serious but has turned ridiculous. If a defendant is not treated fairly, his lawyer might say that the trial is a farce.
As a type of comedy, a farce uses improbable situations, physical humor and silliness to entertain. Spoof films such as "Spaceballs," a comedy based on the Star Wars movies, are farces. If a real-life event or situation is a farce, it feels this ridiculous. An election is a farce, if the outcome has been determined before the voting begins. And class can feel like a farce if your substitute teacher knows less about the subject than you do.