Mere

/mɪə̯/ · adjective

Meaning

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

Definitions by Sense

1. Just, only; no more than, pure and simple, neither more nor better than might be expected.
2. (obsolete) Pure, unalloyed .
3. (obsolete) Nothing less than; complete, downright .
4. Boundary, limit; a boundary-marker; boundary-line.
5. (transitive, obsolete) To limit; bound; divide or cause division in.
6. (intransitive, obsolete) To set divisions and bounds.
7. (cartography) To decide upon the position of a boundary; to position it on a map.
8. (dialectal or literary) A body of standing water, such as a lake or a pond (formerly even a body of seawater), especially a broad, shallow one. (Also included in place names such as Windermere.)

Example Sentences

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

The mere suggestion that the queen’s brother tried to kill your boy would be considered treason.

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.

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 great bargain also had been the excellent Axminster carpet which covered the floor;[…].

...And ocean salinity, of course, represented only the merest sliver of my ignorance. I didn't know what a proton was, didn't know a quark from a quasar, didn't know how geologists could look at a layer of rock on a canyon wall and tell you how old it was, didn't know anything, really. I became gripped by a quiet, unwonted but insistent urge to know a little more about these matters and to understand above all how people figured them out.

More than a mere source of Promethean sustenance to thwart the cold and cook one's meat, wood was quite simply mankind's first industrial and manufacturing fuel.

Drawings and pictures are more than mere ornaments in scientific discourse. Blackboard sketches, geological maps, diagrams of molecular structure, astronomical photographs, MRI images, the many varieties of statistical charts and graphs: These pictorial devices are indispensable tools for presenting evidence, for explaining a theory, for telling a story.

Ah...my sister wishes to see you. A mere child. She never wants to have lunch with her dear sister, but I guess that's not your problem.

Synonyms for mere

Antonyms for mere

Related Words

Word Forms

• merer
• merest
• meres
• meer
• meere
• mear
• meare
• mering
• mered
• mar

Usage Notes

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