MERE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does mere mean? 

• MERE (noun)
  The noun MERE has 1 sense:

1. a small pond of standing water

  Familiarity information: MERE used as a noun is very rare.

• MERE (adjective)
  The adjective MERE has 2 senses:

1. being nothing more than specified

2. apart from anything else; without additions or modifications

  Familiarity information: MERE used as an adjective is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• MERE (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...):

pond; pool (a small lake)

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)

• MERE (adjective)

Comparative: merer   
Superlative: merest   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Being nothing more than specified

Context example:

a mere child

Similar:

specified (clearly and explicitly stated)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Apart from anything else; without additions or modifications

Synonyms:

bare; mere; simple

Context example:

the simple truth

Similar:

plain (not elaborate or elaborated; simple)

 Context examples 

He did not really care for any of the things of mere earth; he was in the clouds and looked down on all the weaknesses and wants of us poor mortals.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

Had there been women in the house, I should have suspected a mere vulgar intrigue.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

A mere suicide would not have caused him to send for me.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

I had no idea of the lengths to which this would carry him, until the merest accident opened my eyes to it.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

It was nothing, now, that I had accustomed myself to think of her, when we were both mere children, as one who was far removed from my wild fancies.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

Why had the mere name of this unresisting individual—whom his word now sufficed to control like a child—fallen on him, a few hours since, as a thunderbolt might fall on an oak?

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

The rain was a mere trifle, and Anne was most sincere in preferring a walk with Mr Elliot.

(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)

"Just as I contended right along. No mere dog could have done what he did. He's a wolf."

(White Fang, by Jack London)

The other, a mere blur of light upon the darkness, indicated the position of the anchored ship.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

I was a mere skeleton, and fever night and day preyed upon my wasted frame.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)