analyze, weigh, appraise, sense, listen, examine, observe, check, discern, focus, review, sort out, think through/about, sift through, piece together (a coherent story), rule out, mull over, turn something over in one's mind, assess, locate, fact-check, verify, redefine, intuit, decipher, deliberate, separate (fact from fiction), step back, consider, contemplate, evaluate, explore (accounts), ponder, play out, chew on/over, reflect on, take stock of
struggle, grapple, handle, hunker down, bear, face, hold up, come to terms with, cope, deal with, wing it, hold out/on, do without, pull together/through, plug away, play to a strength, muddle through, contend with, juggle, carry on, endure, settle for/down, persevere, persist, manage, live through, tolerate, shake oneself out of, retrieve, seek (answers/help), come to grips with, ration out (resources), rein in (spending), encounter (opposition), lean on, pay out/off, extricate (oneself from a drama)
brush aside, turn away/aside, contain, hide, slink, curb, evade, block, disappear, bluff, finesse, keep quiet, step back, avert (one's eyes), lower (one's eyes), skirt (a topic), excuse oneself, divert (attention), deflect (attention), blunt (one's affect), avoid (attracting anger), ward off, parry, field, hold back, hold in (one's urge to retort), accede, comply, stand down/back, tread lightly, sit still, conform, sidestep, table, defer, dodge, modulate (one's voice), sublimate, self-censor, accommodate, restrain oneself, protect oneself (in a shroud of silence), submit to, stave off
retreat, disappear, decompress, quiet oneself, excuse oneself, bow out, slink back, back up/off, untangle, disentangle, unknot, extricate oneself, remove oneself, disengage, unsnarl, control (one's level of engagement), simmer down, cool down, chill (out), take a chill pill, hang loose, stay loose, untwist, sequester, remain silent, withdraw, detach
clench, clip, strangle, suffocate, bind, suppress, tether, trap, swaddle, buckle, cinch, tie up/down, restrict, weigh down, censor, stifle, inhibit, sublimate, gag, pin down, shut up/in, hold down, hold in/back/down, silence, limit, abstain, trammel (as though trapped in a net), repress, swallow (an expletive), swallow one's tongue, bite (the bullet), smother (an impulse to fight back), open and close one's mouth
figure out, mold, fix, rescue, strategize, guess, modify, alter, anticipate, redo, piece together, invent, finesse, persuade, concoct, juggle, puzzle out, work out, get to the bottom of, come up with, put (heads together), hit upon (a solution), turn (something around), turn to, think something through, rethink, figure in, debate, reason, salvage, correct, extemporize, justify, hatch (a plan), substantiate, predict (outcomes), foresee (potential consequences), calculate, shape (a plan), straighten out, comb through
handle, stand, suffer, strain, shoulder, accept, carry on, endure, live through, tolerate, restrain oneself, abide, hold one's tongue, hold out/up/on, smile, grin and bear, buck up, refuse to (give up), exercise (restraint), soldier, take, grin and bear it, suck it up, swallow one's pride, let go, resign oneself, rise (to the occasion), put up with, prove (one's mettle), withstand, survive, manage to, carry on/out, fortify oneself (for the long haul), stomach, reconcile, swallow (a bitter pill), wait (for something to pass), man up, exercise restraint