sheer
adjective
[ ʃɪə ]
• nothing other than; unmitigated (used for emphasis).
• "she giggled with sheer delight"
Similar:
utter,
complete,
absolute,
total,
pure,
perfect,
downright,
out-and-out,
thorough,
thoroughgoing,
through and through,
consummate,
patent,
surpassing,
veritable,
unqualified,
unmitigated,
unalloyed,
unadulterated,
unmixed,
stark,
rank,
plain,
simple,
mere,
proper,
fair,
arrant,
right-down,
• (especially of a cliff or wall) perpendicular or nearly so.
• "the sheer ice walls"
Similar:
precipitous,
very steep,
perpendicular,
vertical,
abrupt,
bluff,
sharp,
vertiginous,
acclivitous,
declivitous,
scarped,
• (of a fabric) very thin; diaphanous.
• "sheer white silk chiffon"
Similar:
diaphanous,
gauzy,
filmy,
floaty,
very thin,
translucent,
transparent,
see-through,
gossamer,
gossamer-like,
chiffony,
insubstantial,
ultra-fine,
fine,
sheer
adverb
• perpendicularly.
• "the ridge fell sheer, in steep crags"
• completely; right.
• "she went sheer forward when the door was open"
sheer
noun
• a very fine or diaphanous fabric or article.
• "I put up the new curtains and sheers"
Origin:
Middle English (in the sense ‘exempt, cleared’): probably an alteration of dialect shire ‘pure, clear’, from the Germanic base of the verb shine. In the mid 16th century the word was used to describe clear, pure water, and also in sheer1 (sense 3 of the adjective).
sheer
verb
• (typically of a boat) swerve or change course quickly.
• "the boat sheered off to beach further up the coast"
Opposite:
stay on course,
sheer
noun
• a sudden deviation from a course, especially by a boat.
Origin:
early 17th century: perhaps from Middle Low German scheren ‘to shear’.
sheer
noun
• the upward slope of a ship's lines towards the bow and stern.
Origin:
late 17th century: probably from the noun shear.
