mere

Definitions  ·  Examples  ·  Pronunciations  ·  Etymologies  ·  Related  ·  Statistics  ·  Comments (1)  · 
“
An old trunk with letters and account-books, some of them in Dutch,--mere curiosities.

View all »
Definitions (30)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (6)

  1. adjective Being nothing more than what is specified: a mere child; a mere 50 cents an hour.
  2. adjective Considered apart from anything else: shocked by the mere idea.
  3. adjective Small; slight: could detect only the merest whisper.
3 more from this dictionary »

Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (16)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (5)

Toggle WordNet definitions WordNet (3)

Toggle elsewhere links Elsewhere on the web

View all »
Examples (50)

  • The appointment had been characterized as a mere formality, but Chemayev suspected that Lebedev's notion of formality was quite different from his own, and while he waited he went over in his mind the several communications he had received from Eternity's agents, wondering if he might have overlooked some devious turn of phrase designed to mislead him. —  F ;SF; - vol 100 issue 03 - March 2001
  • The grave, quiet, strong look, as he sat facing the crowd, impressed me strangely, and most of all was I surprised at the breadth of forehead, the massive head, of the man I had heard described as a mere ignorant demagogue. —  Autobiographical Sketches
  • Feeler, that never saw release, and could (generously) be described as a mere blip on the musical radar. —  Playback:stl Syndication
  • Yet that report is better described as a mere outline. —  FindLaw Writ - Recent Articles
  • He was described as a mere joking justice, accustomed in his judicial office to "poke fun" at prisoners, destitute alike of talents and dignity, and his character a contrast with that of the new Canadian governor. —  The History of Tasmania, Volume I
More examples »
 

Tags

mere hasn't been tagged yet.

Sign up or sign in to add tags.

Stats

This word has been looked up 168 times.

stop updating
On Twitter

Photos from

flickr images

Add a related word »
Related

Roget's II Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

Allen's Allen's Synonyms and Antonyms

Used in the same context Used in the Same Context

own ·  ordinary ·  occasional

Used in the same contextWord Family

mere:   merest
Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (11)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (3)

  1. Middle English, absolute, pure, from Old French mier, pure, from Latin merus.
  2. Middle English, from Old English; see mori- in Indo-European roots.
  3. Middle English, from Old English mǣre.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (8)

  1. Formerly also meer, mcerc, mear; from Middle English mere, meere, from Anglo-Saxon merc, a lake, pool, the sea, = Old Saxon merī, a lake, = OFries. mar, a ditch, = Middle Dutch mare, maer, Dutch meer, meir = Old High German marī, mari, merī, meri, Middle High German mer, German meer = Icelandic marr = Goth, marei, a lake; = Welsh mōr = Gaelic Irish muir = Lithuanian marés = Russian more = Latin mare (later Italian mare = Portuguese Spanish Provencal mar = Old French mer. mier, meir, French mer), sea, Middle Latin also mara, later Old French and F. mare, feminine, a lake, pool, pond; cf. Sanskrit maru, desert, from √ mar, die: see mart, mortal. Hence in comp. mermaid, merman, etc.; and ult. deriv. marsh, marish.
  2. Formerly also meer, meere, mear, meare; from Middle English meer, mere, from Anglo-Saxon gemǣre = D. meer, a limit, boundary, = Icelandic mǣrr, border-land.
  3. Also meer. mear, etc.; from mere, n.
  4. Earlymod. English also meer, mecrc; = Old French mer, mier = Provencal mcr, mier = Spanish Portuguese Italian mcro, from Latin merus, pure, unmixed (as wine), hence bare, only, mere.
  5. from mere, a.
  6. Middle English, also meere, mare, from Anglo-Saxon mǣre, mēre = Old Saxon māri = Old High German māri, Middle High German mære = Icelandic mærr = Gothic (Moesogothic) mērs (in comp. wailamērs), famous; akin to L. memor, mindful, remembering, Sanskrit √ smar, Zend mar, remember: see memory.
  7. Greek μέρος, a share, participle
  8. Maori.
 

Pronunciations
Record your own »
/ˈmɛrɛ/
by American Heritage

Charts
frequency chart

Bubble size: how much this word was used in a year

Bubble height: used more or less than expected, vs. all uses evenly distributed

You can expect to see this word a few times a day.

Recently looked up

pz · slithered · Chromatic · whopping · scoop

Recent Favorites

pygopagus · sanglant · Astacus · sweetbread · qualms

Recent Pronunciations

cuddlefish · cuttlefish · mamaroneck · maladministration · antidisestablishmentarianism