Perhaps this is the word you're looking for: The pessimist complains about the wind; the optimist expects it to change; the realist adjusts the sails. {William Arthur Ward} Collins defines realist ...

Perhaps you're looking for benchmark. A standard by which something can be measured or judged Inflation ... is a great distorter of seemingly fixed economic ideas and benchmarks” (Benjamin M. ...

One common word often used in such contexts that you seem to have overlooked is peak: constituting the highest or maximum level, volume, etc.; optimal; prime: a machine running at peak performance. [...

You could use make a dent in (something) (figurative) to make a small amount of progress with something. I have been slaving all day, and I have hardly made a dent in my work. [The Free Dictionary]

Bite the bullet If someone bites the bullet, they accept that they have to do something unpleasant but necessary. {journalism} Tour operators may be forced to bite the bullet and cut prices. [...

How about alpine? of, pertaining to, on, or part of any lofty mountain. very high; elevated. growing on mountains above the limit of tree growth: alpine plants [Dictionary.com] Additionally, this ...

I suggest conjure . Here is how M-W defines the word— to bring to mind words that conjure pleasant images—often used with up conjure up memories

Put words in/into someone's mouth to suggest that someone said or meant something that he or she did not actually say or mean Don't put words in my mouth. I wasn't defending his actions, despite ...

Merriam-Webster references this meaning of cabbage by providing a separate note (You cannot find it under the usual dictionary entry itself). It was through a random google search that I happened on ...

Sounds more or less like A guilty conscience needs no accuser. A feeling of guilt and remorse can be so strong that it will prompt an offender to confess, even if no one is requiring them to do so. ...

This is one of the many, many possible expressions— In fine fettle If you say that someone or something is in fine fettle, you mean that they are in very good health or condition. [Collins ...

Do you mean importunate? If you describe someone as importunate, you think they are annoying because they keep trying to get something from you. [formal, disapproval] His secretary shielded him from ...

Attempting an answer à la the formidable Sven Yargs, who's an inspiration! Under the entry gravy, Etymonline gives: late 14c. (early 14c. in Anglo-French), from Old French grave, graue, apparently a ...

I suggest Start from scratch to begin from a point at which nothing has been done yet Nothing like this had ever been done before, so we had to start from scratch. OR Go back to the drawing board ...

I think this may be a case of a misplaced modifier. Consider the part As the farmers, all our teas... It seems to suggest that teas are the farmers. Equivalently, if you use the participle phrase ...

I think what you are looking for is begrudgingly. Merriam-Webster defines begrudging thus: said, done, or given reluctantly : GRUDGING begrudging acceptance/admiration/respect

Pucker to tighten skin or cloth until small folds appear or (of skin or cloth) to form small folds He puckered his lips and kissed her. [Cambridge Dictionary] Pucker is a verb for what happens when ...

How about delegate? to give a particular job, duty, right, etc. to someone else so that they do it for you: As a boss you have to delegate (responsibilities to your staff). Authority to make ...

Maybe you're looking for hour of reckoning the moment of truth : the time when something would be decided The hour of reckoning had come. [Merriam-Webster] Or perhaps litmus test If you say that ...

When I was still very young I often used to hear from my elders this Spare the rod and spoil the child Said to mean that if you do not punish a child when they do something wrong, they will not learn ...

Good question. Off the top of my head, I came up with plow. Considering how M-W defines the word, I think it would suit your purpose to a nicety— : To turn, break up, or work with a plow To make (...

I think this one fits the bill nicely: tool to drive a vehicle, especially in a relaxed way or without any specific purpose He spent the evening tooling around the town in his new car. [Macmillan] ...

Try inexorably, the adverb form of inexorable, which Merriam-Webster defines as: not to be persuaded, moved, or stopped : RELENTLESS inexorable progress

You might consider Overkill. overkill Or this idiom go the whole hog Or perhaps this go to town {To do something to excess or in an uninhibited manner.} The kids sure went to town on those ...

How detestable I find those insects, how pleasant the noises they make when I crush them.... The sentence as written is put together very well. But something has been omitted from it: I find (not are....

The usual sentence order would be: "A small unregarded yellow sun lies far out in the uncharted backwaters of the unfashionable end of the western spiral arm of the Galaxy." This version has ...

The quintessential English sentence John hit the ball has the syntactic constituent order "Subject + Verb + NP (Object)." This is pretty much the case with your sentence, only that it has a ...

Etymonline gives battery(n.) (1530s) "action of battering," in law, "the unlawful beating of another," from French batterie, from Old French baterie "beating, thrashing, ...

It would simplify things to know a bit more about the rather technical term Right to Truth. Wikipedia gives: Right to truth is the right, in the case of grave violations of human rights, for the ...

like a broken record used to say that someone keeps saying the same thing over and over again I feel like a broken record but I can't stop talking about the loss. He sounds like a broken record. [...