conviction; belief; confidence
absolutely; positively; decidedly
(not) so much; (not) that much
just; exactly; precisely; perfectly; sharp
bewilderment; perplexity; embarrassment; discomfiture; bafflement
malicious; vicious; malignant; shoddy; inferior; poor-quality
decision; ruling; award; arbitration
representation; agency; proxy; proxy; agent; representative
postponement; moving to a later date
league match; league game; league series; round robin
to deduct; to take away; to make allowances (for something); to bear (something) in mind; to ebb and flow
ninth; Beethoven's Ninth Symphony
counting "stars" to tally the score to date; how well something has gone (e.g. in terms of wins over losses)
in short; in a word; to sum up; to put it simply; to make a long story short; after all
exceptional measures; measures for exceptional cases; preferential measure
match fixing; put-up job; fixed game
to start making a noise; to start making an uproar; to go berserk
all sides; the four cardinal directions and the four ordinal directions; large hanging paper lantern
round; circular; curved; smooth; harmonious; calm
to rule; to govern; to reign over; to subdue; to suppress; to quell
seed (e.g. of a plant); pip; progeny; offspring; paternal blood; lineage; sperm
influential person; powerful person; big wheel; big gun; power behind the throne
call; summons; convening; convocation
perhaps; possibly; by some chance; by some possibility
hidden ball trick; ace up one's sleeve; secret weapon
guess; speculation; supposition
single; simple; sole; individual; unitary
to find difficult to guess; to struggle to work out; to be unable to figure out
to spur (on); to expedite; to encourage
to wear (from the shoulders down); to put on; to take (the blame, responsibility); to bear
(cutting) with a single stroke; lopping off (branches, etc.); (cutting hair) short; drastically (slash a budget, etc.); resolutely; ruthlessly (discard, etc.)
to cut off and throw away; to abandon; to disregard; to discard (numbers after a certain decimal place); to drop; to cut (someone) down
to gather (attract, receive) attention; to have a high profile; to gain prominence; to become popular
to boast; to brag; to feign ignorance; to pretend not to know; to recite (a song or poem to oneself); to bark
shy; diffident; retiring; reserved
lower back; waist; hips; body (of hair, noodles, paper, etc.); resilience; spring
to look downwards; to lower one's eyes