mere

Study(1)

UK /mɪə̯/ US /mɪɚ/

noun 4adj 3verb 3name 3

Collocations

ADJ.

diplomatic, longer, plushy, richer, watched

She wasn't a mere diplomatic gesture; the ambassador genuinely wanted to help.

VERB + MERE

cost, eye, said, thought

I thought it was merely a scratch, but it turned out to be broken.

MERE + NOUN

child, coincidence, companionship, glance, idea, idleness, item, knowledge

It was a mere coincidence that we both arrived at the station at the same time.

PREP.

than

She was nothing more than a mere secretary when she started at the company.

Definitions

adj

Just, only; no more than, pure and simple, neither more nor better than might be expected.

The mere thought of pineapple on pizza makes me want to throw up.

And ſo vve may have an ever-grovving Idea of infinite Number as vvell as infinite Space or Emptineſs, yet it is a meer Idea, and hath no real Exiſtence vvithout us.

Pure, unalloyed .

So oft as I this history record, / My heart doth melt with meere compassion[…].

Meere [translating pure] ignorance, and wholy relying on others, was verily more profitable and wiser, than is this verball, and vaine knowledge[…].

Nothing less than; complete, downright .

If every man might have what he would[…]we should have another chaos in an instant, a meer confusion.

This freedom of expostulation exalted his mother's ire to meer frenzy […].

noun

Boundary, limit; a boundary-marker; boundary-line.

The Troian Brute did first that Citie found, / And Hygate made the meare thereof by West, / And Ouert gate by North: that is the bound / Toward the land; two riuers bound the rest.

verb

To limit; bound; divide or cause division in.

To set divisions and bounds.

To decide upon the position of a boundary; to position it on a map.

What chance is there of revising this example of case law to include an exception to the generally cited rule when an administrative boundary has been mered in the past to coincide with a private property boundary?

Thesaurus

Synonyms

Antonyms

Idioms & Phrases

mere mortal

One who is not a god; a human being.

Show all the gods how even a mere mortal can best Ares's plans and defeat his will

Example Bank

The mere thought of pineapple on pizza makes me want to throw up.

Wiktionary

And ſo vve may have an ever-grovving Idea of infinite Number as vvell as infinite Space or Emptineſs, yet it is a meer Idea, and hath no real Exiſtence vvithout us.

Wiktionary

Thus the red damask curtains which now shut out the fog-laden, drizzling atmosphere of the Marylebone Road, had cost a mere song, and yet they might have been warranted to last another thirty years. A

Wiktionary

The Troian Brute did first that Citie found, / And Hygate made the meare thereof by West, / And Ouert gate by North: that is the bound / Toward the land; two riuers bound the rest.

Wiktionary

When making for the Brooke, the Falkoner doth espie On River, Plash, or Mere, where store of Fowle doth lye:

Wiktionary

Usage Notes

i Register

In some senses, mere is marked as obsolete, literary. Watch for register when choosing this word.

Your note

not saved

0 chars