Origin:
1250–1300; Middle English < Latin merus pure, unmixed, mere
1250–1300; Middle English < Latin merus pure, unmixed, mere
Synonyms
1. Mere, bare imply a scant sufficiency. They are often interchangeable, but mere frequently means no more than (enough). Bare suggests scarcely as much as (enough). Thus a mere livelihood means enough to live on but no more; a bare livelihood means scarcely enough to live on.
1. Mere, bare imply a scant sufficiency. They are often interchangeable, but mere frequently means no more than (enough). Bare suggests scarcely as much as (enough). Thus a mere livelihood means enough to live on but no more; a bare livelihood means scarcely enough to live on.
00:10
Mere
is always a great word to know.
So is doohickey. Does it mean:
| a printed punctuation mark (‽), available only in some typefaces, designed to combine the question mark (?) and the exclamation point (!), indicating a mixture of query and interjection, as after a rhetorical question. |
| a gadget; dingus; thingumbob. |
Dictionary.com Unabridged
noun British Dialect.
a boundary or boundary marker.
Also, mear.
Origin:
before 900; Middle English; Old English (ge)mǣre; cognate with Old Norse mǣri; akin to Latin mūrus wall, rim
before 900; Middle English; Old English (ge)mǣre; cognate with Old Norse mǣri; akin to Latin mūrus wall, rim
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
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Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
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Link To mere
Collins
World English Dictionary
mere1 (mɪə) ![[Click for IPA pronunciation guide]](http://static.sfdict.com/dictstatic/g/d/dictionary_questionbutton_default.gif) | |
| —adj , superlative merest | |
| being nothing more than something specified: she is a mere child | |
| [C15: from Latin merus pure, unmixed] | |
| mere2 (mɪə) | |
| —n | |
| 1. | archaic, dialect or a lake or marsh |
| 2. | obsolete the sea or an inlet of it |
| [Old English mere sea, lake; related to Old Saxon meri sea, Old Norse marr, Old High German mari; compare Latin mare] | |
| mere3 (mɪə) | |
| —n | |
| archaic a boundary or boundary marker | |
| [Old English gemǣre] | |
| mere4 (ˈmɛrɪ) | |
| —n | |
| (NZ) a short flat striking weapon | |
| [Māori] | |
| -mere | |
| —n combining form | |
| indicating a part or division: blastomere | |
| [from Greek meros part, portion] | |
| -meric | |
| —adj combining form | |
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Etymonline
Word Origin & History
mere
c.1400, "unmixed," from O.Fr. mier "pure, entire," from L. merus "unmixed, pure, bare," used of wine, probably originally "clear, bright," from PIE *mer- "to gleam, glimmer, sparkle" (cf. O.E. amerian "to purify," O.Ir. emer "not clear," Skt. maricih "ray, beam," Gk. marmarein "to gleam, glimmer"). Original
sense of "nothing less than, absolute" (1530s, now only in vestiges such as mere folly) existed for centuries alongside opposite sense of "nothing more than" (1580s, e.g. a mere dream).
mere
O.E. mere "sea, lake, pool, pond," from P.Gmc. *mari (cf. O.N. marr, O.S. meri "sea," Du. meer "lake," O.H.G. mari, Ger. Meer "sea," Goth. marei "sea," mari-saiws "lake"), from PIE *mori-/*mari "sea" (cf. L. mare, O.C.S. morje, Rus. more, Lith. mares, O.Ir. muir, Welsh mor "sea," Gaulish Are-morici "people
living near the sea").
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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American Heritage
Medical Dictionary
-mere or -mer
suff.
Part; segment: blastomere, polymer.
The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
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Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Cite This Source
American Heritage
Science Dictionary
| -mere or -mer
A suffix meaning "part" or "segment," as in blastomere, one of the cells that form a blastula. |
The American Heritage® Science Dictionary
Copyright © 2002. Published by Houghton Mifflin. All rights reserved.
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Copyright © 2002. Published by Houghton Mifflin. All rights reserved.
Cite This Source
Example sentences
No, it was not ready in time for the feast and the yield ended up being a mere trifle.
These shorter changes came in bursts, causing the climate to jump from cold to hot to cold again, sometimes in mere decades.
On the other hand, the mere conduct of the story has much that is beautiful in it.
Liang also demonstrated to officialdom that they need not view the mere existence of citizen groups as an outright threat.
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