Something that is spurious is not genuine, authentic, or true. The particular brand of falsehood implied by this slippery adjective depends on what it is describing. When describing objects, such as an artifact or a document, spurious means counterfeit or forged. When describing accusations or claims, spurious veers more toward deliberately misleading or insincere. And when applied to reasoning, as in a spurious argument or spurious correlations, spurious means something closer to faulty or flawed.

The verb manifest means “to make clear or evident” or “to show plainly.” Things manifested—such as feelings, intentions, or conditions—are typically made apparent through actions or behaviors. For instance, anxiety might manifest itself in an inability to sleep. Or, more pleasantly, a friend might manifest or show approval of something with a hearty laugh.

A modification is a partial alteration or adjustment. This word works as a synonym for the noun change when talking about relatively small changes—or modifications—that leave the fundamental nature of a thing intact. For instance, we make modifications to our behavior, lifestyle, or diet, when we want to alter but not completely overhaul these areas of our lives. Similarly, modifications may be made to rules, loans, or contracts to make them more lenient or feasible while preserving the essentials.