Observations of an Oblivious Woman: Damning Definitions

I like words. They allow you to express yourself, get your point across, etc. They are the way we communicate love, fear, hatred, jealousy, happiness, joy--every emotion we feel. Here is a list of vocabulary words I have been thinking about lately.

It seems to me that if more people paid attention to--or bothered to learn in the first place--what the words they use literally mean, there would be a lot less confusion in the world. It would also be nice if everyone extended the same courtesies to others that they expect to be extended to them. Namely, giving the benefit of the doubt, not jumping to conclusions, and remembering that when you assume things, you make an ass out of you and me.

Relationship--the way in which two or more concepts, objects, or people are connected, or the state of being connected; the way in which two or more people or organizations regard and behave toward each other.

Friendship--the emotions or conduct of friends; the state of being friends; a relationship between friends; a state of mutual trust and support between allied nations.

Friend--a person whom one knows and with whim one has a bond of mutual affection, typically exclusive of sexual or family relations; a person who is not an enemy or who is on the same side. Derived from an Indo-European root meaning 'to love,' shared by Free.

Free--not under the control or in the power of another; able to act or be done as one wishes; able or permitted to take a specified action; not physically restrained, obstructed, or fixed; unimpeded. In Physics, disengaged or available.

Concern--relate to; be about; be relevant or important to; affect or involve; have a specific connection with or responsibility for; interest or involve oneself in.

Gossip--casual or unconstrained conversation or reports about other people, typically involving details that are not confirmed as being true; a person who likes talking about other people's private lives.

Slander--the action or crime of making a false spoken statement damaging to a person's reputation; a false and malicious spoken statement.

Libel--a thing or circumstance that brings about undeserved discredit on a person by misrepresentation.

Defame--damage the good reputation of someone; slander or libel. From Latin diffamare 'spread evil report.'

Malign--speak about someone in a spitefully critical manner. From the Latin malignus 'tending to evil.'

Mistrust--be suspicious of; have no confidence in; lack of trust; suspicion

Confidence--the feeling or belief that one can rely on someone or something; firm trust; the state of feeling certain about the truth of something; the telling of private matters or secrets with mutual trust.

Trust--firm belief in the reliability, truth, ability, or strength of someone or something; acceptance of the truth of a statement without evidence or investigation. Commit someone or something to the safekeeping of. From Old Norse traustr 'strong.'

Humiliate--make someone feel ashamed and foolish by injuring their dignity and self-respect, especially publicly.
Devastation--destroy or ruin something; cause someone severe and overwhelming shock or grief. From the Latin verb devastare, de--'thoroughly' + vastare 'lay waste.'

Psychotic--of, denoting, or suffering from a psychosis.

Psychosis--a severe mental disorder in which thought and emotions are so impaired that contact is lost with external reality.

Obsessed--preoccupy or fill the mind of someone continually, intrusively, or to a troubling extent.

Immature--not fully developed; having or showing emotional or intellectual development appropriate to someone younger; childish; emotionally underdeveloped.