To hit repeatedly or strike sharply（立て続けに叩く）

→“The teacher buffeted the blackboard for attention.”

To treat harshly（酷い仕打ちをする）

→“I quit the company because I was sick of being buffeted by my boss.”

A big puzzle; an insoluble problem（大きな謎、難解な問題）

→“How the universe started remains a scientific conundrum.”

→“How to respond to the uprising in the Middle East is a foreign policy conundrum.”

The surface of the earth directly above the center of an earthquake; the central or most critical location（地震・物事の中心地）

→“The epicenter of the major earthquake was in the northeastern part of Japan.”

→“Beijing is becoming the epicenter of commerce and trade in Asia.”

A foreign resident of a country（駐在員、在留している外国人）

→“The Chinese corporation has a lot of expats in its New York office.”

→“Japanese expats around the world are following the news about the catastrophe with growing concern.”

For a bad condition to get worse（悪化する）

→“A deep-seated anger festers below the surface.”

→“The wound festered into an infection.”

To stimulate; to provoke; to incite（刺激する、憤慨させる）

→“Her interest was piqued when she overheard the conversation.”

→“The receptionist’s attitude piqued him into an outburst.”

To utterly destroy（破壊する、壊滅状態にする）

→“The Senator made an impassioned speech, pulverizing the opponent’s argument.”

→“The hurricane pulverized the coastal town.”

To speak or write in an unorganized way; to walk about aimlessly（まとまりの ない話し方・書き方をする、特に目的もなく歩き回る）

→“Some of the audience went to sleep as the speaker rambled on.”

→“His eyes rambled over the words on the page.”

Erratic and irregular in behavior（規則違反の、不良の、無法の）

→“The new country is acting like a rogue regime.”

(As noun) An outlaw; a nonconformist（アウトロー、不良、ならず者）

→“The government announced a major campaign against rogues.”

To deplore; to regret（悲嘆する、後悔する）

→“The Prime Minister rues his dwindling popularity.”

→“I rue the day Osama bin Laden was born.”

To harshly criticize; to attack（はげしく非難する）

→“Human rights groups slammed the government’s policy.”

→“He was slammed for his stupid comment.”

To feel pain; to suffer（痛みを感じる）

→“While running the marathon, his eyes smarted as sweat drops trickled in.”

→“She is still smarting under the disappointment of her loss.”

To obtain hidden information（隠された情報を引き出す）

→“After much prodding, I was able to tease the secret out of her.”

→“A secret agent’s principal mission is to tease out classified info from foreign powers.”

To move from one side to the other in a violent manner; to exert oneself（横から横へ体を荒々しく動かす、必死に努力する・頭をひねる）

→“The drunkard thrashed about when the police tried to control him.”

→“For the past 45 minutes I have been thrashing around for an answer to the question.”

To discuss something thoroughly so as to come to a solution or agreement（徹底的に話し合い解決策・合意に達する）

→“The leaders were finally able to thrash out a tentative agreement on the party platform.”

→“The family had a lively discussion thrashing out the details of the vacation plan.”