swing and a miss; (punching and) failing to make contact; (ending in) failure; fruitless effort
roots; origin; one's roots; ancestry
to get blurred; to get hoarse; to get husky; to graze; to scrape
yikes!; eek!; ook; eek; customer
(a) stop (e.g. in a timber joint, or at the end of a kanji stroke); remaining (e.g. poste-restante)
bye-bye; goodbye; saying goodbye; parting
transmission (e.g. news, chemical signals, electricity); communication; delivery; conveyance; transfer; relay
hanging banner; hanging screen; curtain
comfort; consolation; diversion
level; standard; water level
drop (e.g. of water); drip
indifferently; paying no attention (to); taking no notice (of)
faint; slight; vague; nebulous; indeterminate; tinge of ...
dissenting opinion; opposite viewpoint; contraview
to bluff; to act brave; to put on a bold front
torrential rain; heavy rain; cloudburst; downpour
to become the focus of (attention, sympathy, hope, etc.)
to shrink back; to wince; to flinch; to recoil
with a crack (e.g. branches, knuckles)
putting together (e.g. opinions); gathering; collecting; aggregating; summarizing; integrating
(one's) younger brother; foolish younger brother
plot; scheme; trick; design; intrigue; artifice
(something) one does not really mean; insincere
(villains) of the same stripe; birds of a feather; (lit.) badgers of the same hole
seeing through (a trick, someone's mind, etc.)
how many years; how long; what year
adverse circumstances; unfortunate situation; adversity
somewhat strong; fairly strong; fairly firm
being settled quickly; reaching a quick conclusion; no need to say any more; no problem
to do; to commit; to carry out; to bring about
joint ownership; co-ownership; sharing (e.g. a viewpoint); sharing (files, devices on a network, posts on social media, etc.)
to cling to; to embrace; to throw one's arms around
not knowing when to let go (give up, etc.); unwilling to resign; having lingering attachment; regretful
to get used to; to become accustomed to; to be at home (on the stage)
pretending not to see (something); turning a blind eye (to); closing one's eyes (to); looking the other way
20th day of the month; 20 days
to fall below (esp. figures: profits, unemployment rate, etc.); to be less than; to be lower than; to fall just short of; to be just under
praise; worship; adoration; glorification
somehow; for some reason; without knowing why
bored; having nothing to do; idle
change (of personnel); reshuffle (e.g. of a cabinet); shake-up; dismissal (e.g. of a minister); replacement