influential person; powerful person; big wheel; big gun; power behind the throne
party (of people); set (of people); clan; family; fellow
as soon as ...; just after ...; immediately after ...; hurriedly; in haste; quickly
consequently; as a result
calculation; computation; reckoning; consideration; calculation; estimation
to gouge; to hollow out; to greatly perturb; to cause emotional pain; to get to the bottom of things; to relentlessly bring the truth to light
suspicious-looking; shady; questionable; dubious; fishy
standing by; awaiting an opportunity; being on alert; quarantine
about; roughly; generally; on the whole; completely; quite
until then; till then; to that extent; the end of it; all there is to it
reason; logic; sense; natural way of things
maniac; enthusiast; fan; mania; craze
experiment; experimentation
body; physique; shape; form; substance; identity; field
vague; ambiguous; shady; disreputable; fuzzy
material; materials; data; information; documents
adjustment; regulation; coordination; reconciliation; tuning; fixing
mundane; routine; everyday; unremarkable; common; day-to-day
cannot help feeling that; cannot help thinking that
periodic; regular; routine
suppression (e.g. of free speech); force-out
habit; (social) custom; practice; convention
routine; routine duties; routine work; routine
remainder; remnant; not very; not much; too much; excessively
depressing; dark (e.g. story); grim (e.g. expression); irritating; annoying; tedious (work, person, etc.)
phone scam involving a pretended relative
teacher; master; religious leader; specialist; five-battalion brigade comprising 2500 men (Zhou dynasty Chinese army)
concentration (on a task); focusing one's attention; concentration (of population, buildings, power, etc.); centralization; within a collection of works
in turns; in series; in order; by rotation
solely; entirely; only; sharing; together
chance to win; opportunity to win; chance of victory
victory goes to the one who makes the first move; being quick to take action leads to victory; the early bird gets the worm
(attacking and) sinking (a ship); sending (a ship) to the bottom; crushing defeat; utter failure; complete exhaustion; collapsing (onto a bed, desk, etc.)
cutting to pieces; tearing to pieces