1. At bay
• Forced to face or confront one’s attackers or pursuers. Cornered.
Usage: He felt at bay, like a very dim minister facing a hostile house.
2. Spiral out
• To become less at a faster rate.
Usage: Violence in the country is threatening to spiral out of control.
3. Vaguest (superlative degree of Vague)
• Not clearly or explicitly stated or expressed.
Usage: It is the vaguest situation that we are facing.
4. Lull
• Calm or send to sleep, typically with soothing sounds.
Usage: The rhythm of the boat lulled her to sleep.
5. Provenance
• The beginning of something’s existence; something’s origin.
Usage: They try to understand the whole universe, its provenance and fate.
6. Misfeasance
• Wrongdoing, especially by a public official.
• Intentional conduct that is wrongful or unlawful, especially by officials or public employees.
Usage: The eight cleared are suing South Wales Police for misfeasance in public office and false imprisonment.
7. Malfeasance vs Nonfeasance vs Misfeasance
• Malfeasance means Intentional conduct that is wrongful or unlawful, especially by officials or public employees. Malfeasance is at a higher level of wrongdoing than nonfeasance and misfeasance.
• Nonfeasance means failure to act where there was a duty to act.
• Misfeasance means conduct that is lawful but inappropriate.
8. Charade
• An absurd pretence intended to create a pleasant or respectable appearance.
Usage: Talk of unity was nothing more than a charade.
9. Conventional wisdom
• Conventional wisdom is the body of ideas or explanations generally accepted as true by the public and/or by experts in a field.
Usage: Conventional wisdom has it that a book should never be judged by its cover.
10. Realism
• Realism, sometimes called naturalism, in the arts is generally the attempt to represent subject matter truthfully, without artificiality and avoiding artistic conventions, or implausible, exotic, and supernatural elements.
Usage: Cinema is rapidly changing, much like it did in the 1970s when independent filmmakers, including a young Scorsese, upended Hollywood with realism.
