| English Dictionary |
SHEER
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
| IPA (US): |  |
Dictionary entry overview: What does sheer mean?
• SHEER (adjective)
The adjective SHEER has 4 senses:
1. complete and without restriction or qualification; sometimes used informally as intensifiers
2. not mixed with extraneous elements
3. very steep; having a prominent and almost vertical front
4. so thin as to transmit light
Familiarity information: SHEER used as an adjective is uncommon.
• SHEER (verb)
The verb SHEER has 2 senses:
1. turn sharply; change direction abruptly
2. cause to sheer
Familiarity information: SHEER used as a verb is rare.
• SHEER (adverb)
The adverb SHEER has 2 senses:
1. straight up or down without a break
2. directly
Familiarity information: SHEER used as an adverb is rare.
Dictionary entry details
| Declension: comparative and superlative |
Superlative: sheerest
Sense 1
Meaning:
Complete and without restriction or qualification; sometimes used informally as intensifiers
Synonyms:
absolute; downright; out-and-out; rank; right-down; sheer
Context example:
sheer stupidity
Similar:
complete (having every necessary or normal part or component or step)
Sense 2
Meaning:
Not mixed with extraneous elements
Synonyms:
plain; sheer; unmingled; unmixed
Context example:
not an unmixed blessing
Similar:
pure (free of extraneous elements of any kind)
Sense 3
Meaning:
Very steep; having a prominent and almost vertical front
Synonyms:
Context example:
a sheer descent of rock
Similar:
steep (having a sharp inclination)
Sense 4
Meaning:
So thin as to transmit light
Synonyms:
cobwebby; diaphanous; filmy; gauze-like; gauzy; gossamer; see-through; sheer; transparent; vaporous; vapourous
Context example:
vaporous silks
Similar:
thin (of relatively small extent from one surface to the opposite or in cross section)
| Conjugation: |
... he / she / it sheers Past simple: sheered
Past participle: sheered
-ing form: sheering
Sense 1
Meaning:
Turn sharply; change direction abruptly
Classified under:
Verbs of walking, flying, swimming
Synonyms:
curve; cut; sheer; slew; slue; swerve; trend; veer
Context example:
The motorbike veered to the right
Hypernyms (to "sheer" is one way to...):
turn (change orientation or direction, also in the abstract sense)
Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "sheer"):
peel off (leave a formation)
yaw (swerve off course momentarily)
Sentence frames:
Something ----s
Something is ----ing PP
Sense 2
Meaning:
Cause to sheer
Classified under:
Verbs of walking, flying, swimming
Context example:
She sheered her car around the obstacle
Hypernyms (to "sheer" is one way to...):
channelise; channelize; direct; guide; head; maneuver; manoeuver; manoeuvre; point; steer (direct the course; determine the direction of travelling)
Sentence frame:
Somebody ----s something
Sense 1
Meaning:
Straight up or down without a break
Synonyms:
perpendicularly; sheer
Sense 2
Meaning:
Directly
Context example:
he fell sheer into the water
Context examples
But they sheered clear of him.
(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)
The wave over-topped the Ghost, and I gazed sheer up and into it.
(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)
My God! he said; this is dreadful. There is no time to be lost. She will die for sheer want of blood to keep the heart's action as it should be.
(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)
Next, he sheered to the left, to escape the foot of the bed; but this sheer, if too generous, brought him against the corner of the table.
(Martin Eden, by Jack London)
The coal replied: “I fortunately sprang out of the fire, and if I had not escaped by sheer force, my death would have been certain,—I should have been burnt to ashes.”
(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)
“He sheered off from us when the weather was foul, and we have no need of him now that the sun is shining.”
(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
The air, besides, was fresh and stirring, and this, under the sheer sunbeams, was a wonderful refreshment to our senses.
(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)
But the sheer scale of the experiences people could store in memory over our lives creates the risk of being overwhelmed with information.
(Selective amnesia: how rats and humans are able to actively forget distracting memories, University of Cambridge)
He was crying with sheer rage and eagerness as he circled back and forth for a chance to spring in.
(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)
He fought from sheer joy, finding in it an expression of much that he felt and that otherwise was without speech.
(White Fang, by Jack London)
| Learn English with... Proverbs |
"As long as there is no wind, the tree wont blow." (Afghanistan proverb)
"If the village stands, it can break a trunk." (Armenian proverb)
"A thin cat and a fat woman are the shame of a household." (Corsican proverb)