be superior to / surpass / be better than / excel

warmth / warm

japanner / lacquerer

(of one's countenance) blank / (of one's countenance) expressionless

(of one's countenance) innocent / (of one's countenance) unknowing

cloth file

sliminess / slime

sliminess / slipperiness

(of the way in which one speaks) ambiguously / (of the way in which one speaks) evasively / (of the way in which one speaks) vaguely / (of the way in which one speaks) noncommittally

speak ambiguously / give an evasive [answer] / make a noncommittal [answer] / speak vaguely