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MERE
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
A small pond of standing water
Classified under:
Nouns denoting natural objects (not man-made)
Hypernyms ("mere" is a kind of...):
Domain region:
Britain; Great Britain; U.K.; UK; United Kingdom; United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (a monarchy in northwestern Europe occupying most of the British Isles; divided into England and Scotland and Wales and Northern Ireland; 'Great Britain' is often used loosely to refer to the United Kingdom)
II. (adjective)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Being nothing more than specified
Example:
a mere child
Classified under:
Similar:
specified (clearly and explicitly stated)
Sense 2
Meaning:
Apart from anything else; without additions or modifications
Example:
the simple truth
Synonyms:
Classified under:
Similar:
plain (not elaborate or elaborated; simple)
Context examples:
The spacecraft will pass a mere 30 miles (49 kilometers) above the moon's surface.
(Cassini Finds Global Ocean in Saturn's Moon Enceladus, NASA)
The gas in the hall was a mere point of light.
(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
It was more than a mere prejudice or dislike.
(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
Nay, nay, said the knight, these were not feats of arms, but mere wayside ventures and the chances of travel.
(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
The two red dwarf stars are a mere 7 million miles apart, or 14 times the diameter of the moon's orbit around Earth.
(Hubble Finds Planet Orbiting Pair of Stars, NASA)
The mountains likely formed no more than 100 million years ago — mere youngsters relative to the 4.56-billion-year age of the solar system — and may still be in the process of building.
(The Icy Mountains of Pluto, NASA)
It was not by mere achievement that he could hope to win to her.
(Martin Eden, by Jack London)
There could be no harm in a scheme, a mere passive scheme.
(Emma, by Jane Austen)
From being the mere gentleman's residence, it becomes, by judicious improvement, the residence of a man of education, taste, modern manners, good connexions.
(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)
She had heard nothing of Lady Catherine that spoke her awful from any extraordinary talents or miraculous virtue, and the mere stateliness of money or rank she thought she could witness without trepidation.
(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)
