mere1 adjectivemere2 noun
meremere1 /mɪə $ mɪr/ ●○○ adjective (superlative merest) [only before noun, no comparative] 
WORD ORIGINmere1
Origin:
1300-1400 Latin merus ‘pure, unmixed’EXAMPLES FROM OTHER DICTIONARIES
- Admission costs a mere $5 for adults, and only $1 for children.
- How can you expect him to understand? He's a mere child.
- Most of the soldiers were mere boys.
- Stock prices dropped at the merest rumor of a company takeover.
- The mere mention of Ronan's name made her heart beat faster.
- The mere thought of drinking whiskey makes me feel sick.
- There have been reports that she is going to resign, but it's mere speculation at the moment.
- His own, over the Ohio River at Wheeling, lasted a mere five.
- I can hardly see that a mere frigate is going to inconvenience you to all that extent.
- If so, it is perhaps surprising that a threat of a mere breach of contract should give rise to liability.
- In December he found Herbie Roberts, 21, an amateur wing-half from Oswestry, who cost a mere £200.
- It was clearly something more than a mere mortal storm and in point of fact Juno was back of it.
- Jobs requiring mere brawn are dwindling, replaced by lower-paid jobs requiring skill, education and a high degree of interpersonal polish.
- Most of the opponents of enclosure at Nottingham were not, therefore, mere villains.
- Yet some things that look like cynicism may be mere ineptness.
Longman Language Activatornot particularly important, special, or interesting
use this to emphasize that someone or something is not particularly important, special, or interesting: · Don't ask me - I'm only the cleaner.· "What's for dinner?" "Just pasta - nothing exciting."only/just another: · It's just another one of those daytime talk shows.
formal use this to emphasize that someone or something is not really important or special, although they may seem to be: · The President's position is merely ceremonial; it is the Chancellor who holds real power.· I wondered if the girl had meant more to him than being merely a casual friend.
only that, and not anything more important, more valuable, or more useful: · She sees him as a friend and nothing else.if nothing else: · If nothing else the meeting serves as a useful way of getting everyone's ideas together.
only - used especially when you do not expect very much from the thing you are describing, or you think it is unimportant: · How can you expect him to understand? He's a mere child.· There have been reports that she is going to resign, but it's mere speculation at the moment.· The mere mention of Ronan's name made her heart beat faster.
use this about someone or something that is not nearly as good, special, interesting etc as they seem to be or pretend to be: · They say they're a moral, religious regime, but in fact they're nothing but a bunch of bullies and thugs.· As far as I can see, this proposal is no more than an attempt to disguise many of the mistakes management have made in the past.
a surprisingly small price/number/amount. use this to say that a number, amount, price, size etc is surprisingly small: · I got these four chairs for only $99.· We only have a very small garden.· "Is it far?" "No, it's only a mile away."· She was only 17 when she got married.
only a small amount, number, period of time etc, especially when this is surprising and good: · There is a beautiful park just 300 metres from the busiest shopping street.· It took the firefighters just three minutes to arrive.· His car hit a wall, but he escaped with just cuts and bruises.just a littlealso just a bit British spoken (=only a small amount, number etc): · "Do you take milk?" "Just a little, please."
spoken say this when you are surprised because you expected a number, price etc to be higher: · "The tickets are $10." "Is that all?"· Is that all the money you've got?
use this to talk about something that is only a small amount or figure, or is lower than you would expect: a mere £50/three days/16% etc: · You can now buy computers from a mere £300.· The crossword took him a mere six and a half minutes.
use this to emphasize that something is small, unimportant, difficult to notice etc: · We were standing no more than 10 yards away from the scene of the crime and we didn't realize it.· David watched the car drive slowly away, until it was no more than a speck in the distance.
COLLOCATIONS FROM THE ENTRY
It can’t be a mere coincidence that they left at the same time. The mere fact that the talks are continuing is a positive sign.COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES
It can’t be a mere coincidence that they left at the same time. The mere fact that the talks are continuing is a positive sign. (=only chance and nothing else)· Is it mere coincidence that they always seem to employ men?
(=just the fact that something exists)· The mere existence of a contract does not guarantee that you will be paid.
(=the fact of saying something that seems unimportant)· The mere mention of his name caused her to burst into tears.
(=not based on any knowledge)· A government official yesterday dismissed the reports as ‘pure speculation’.
COLLOCATIONS FROM THE CORPUSADVERB· Now many are almost too vast to comprehend as mere cities built by human hands.· Whatever the chancellor's motives, it is a mistake to dismiss his budget for savers as mere window-dressing.· Those studies which concentrated on local-central relations ignored local politics because they saw local authorities as mere receptacles for central policy.· What the former valued as a proper earthiness and sensuality, the latter condemned as mere vulgarity.· Equally, concepts, the stuff of rules, can not exist in a vacuum as mere semantic toys.· This was strong stuff, even if it was wrapped up as mere journalistic conjecture, and obviously Toby knew or suspected something.· How on earth can the W.R.U. sell out over 100 years of tradition for such a thing as mere money.· Nizan, in short, was accused by Sartre of treating his characters as mere ciphers of a particular class.
NOUN· I didn't tell him about the handbill I had found; indeed, I quickly dismissed that as a mere coincidence.· Another mere coincidence, say school officials, adding that Tarkanian was adamant about having such a watchdog on staff.· Logic suggests this can not be reduced to mere coincidence.· It has happened too often to me to be mere coincidence.· That may be mere coincidence-but it is also perhaps symbolic.
· For Oakeshott the authority of respublica does not arise from the mere existence of a rule of recognition.· Whybrew, at 79, is still very much alive and feeling lucky, but for reasons richer than mere existence.· Chopra had felt pain; the pain of mere existence.· What these entities ultimately accomplish may be academic; but their mere existence should give doomsayers cause for hope.· But it is clear that the mere existence of an alternative remedy does not oust judicial review.· The mere existence of unsolved puzzles within a paradigm does not constitute a crisis.· But the mere existence of such contacts did not mean very much.
· The mere fact that the member appeals should not in itself amount to a waiver.· The mere fact that they are willing to undertake these repairs proves that they fear us.· Faith can be impervious to mere facts.· The mere fact of racial imbalance represented a form of inequality.· The mere fact that this took the road through a school and a housing estate was of secondary interest.· This does not mean that the mere fact of customer contact calls for heavy control.· The mere fact that a vessel has sunk does not mean that there is a recoverable claim.· Nevertheless, he says, the legend outweighs mere facts.
· Some scholars, however, see Matthew's interest in the Church as going beyond the mere mention of the word.· A mere mention was enough to remind me that I was not free, yet.· She could understand her eight-year-old self, sick with terror at the mere mention of Fincara.· There are lawyers who are proud of their craft, and get defensive at the mere mention of lawyer-bashing.· I normally throw up at the mere mention of footy management, but Soccer Rivals is darn good.· Ruth's heart jumped; escape was precisely what she'd thought of, at the mere mention of Fincara.· The mere mention of precious Graham seemed to enrage Eunice even more.· Pulses quicken at the mere mention of the name; grown men develop a glazed look in their eyes.
· Miracles can be worked by Him alone, although mere mortals may entreat Him by prayer to perform them on their behalf.· A penchant for setting oneself apart and above mere mortals.· They even have a chance of wounding monsters with a toughness of 8 - not bad for mere mortals!· It would have been a proper punishment for a mere mortal who dared to suggest policy to the Son of Heaven.· But mere mortals know the futility of trying to outguess the market.· But strangely enough she did not care long for her divine lover; she preferred a mere mortal.· Unlike mere mortals, Barkley remains undeterred by age and injury.
· Often the mere presence of the Helblaster is enough to make the enemy think twice about going somewhere.· It was as if the mere presence of the prize made each man doubt his own wisdom.· Effect Although Cantona watched the game from the second row of the directors' box, his mere presence had an effect.· The mere presence of tubes turned the MITerminator 3 cables to a brittle mess.· Hewett felt their mere presence would calm matters down.· The mere presence of the letter would be something to get her through the morning.· The mere presence of an object on museum premises entails some form of associated documentation.· It was rumoured that they had already burned farms in other villages, so their mere presence filled the Fontanellatesi with terror.
· Why should she be troubled by the mere sight of him?· Andrew looked down at her, healed by the mere sight of her.· They didn't come haring towards them as if the mere sight of them was the best thing that had happened all day.· The mere sight of him was enough to make McAllister's toes curl.
· The mere thought brought a tremor to her legs.· Shocked by the mere thought, I suddenly feel strangely benign toward the animals that I love so dearly to eat.· The mere thought shocked her and she jerked back.· To Soo-Il, the mere thought of bringing the Beautiful One into the Kang home was immensely pleasing.· Spencer lifted his arms in a flamboyant gesture and Emily felt physically sick at the mere thought of marrying him.· The mere thought gave Masklin nightmares.· The mere thought of Piers no longer being around made her feel horribly empty and desolate.· The mere thought of Madcap Agnew - a name rarely mentioned in the Hall - appeared to stultify him.
· Yet body language often tells us so much more than mere words.· No transport, today, into a realm beyond mere words.· In any case, the mere word was anathema to her, she thought fiercely.· I claim a man should be known by his deeds and not by mere words.· All this may seem mere words, but words and their meaning are at the heart of the planning process.· While the text may be mere words on a page the discourse takes on a deeper and more determinative role.· All this conveyed a passion and conviction mere words could not express.
PHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
1used to emphasize how small or unimportant something or someone is: - A penchant for setting oneself apart and above mere mortals.
- And together we were emphatically co-operative that neighbouring forces were populated by lesser mortals.
- However, such models of the universe are not of much interest to us ordinary mortals.
- Lords, ladies, dukes and duchesses figure prominently among the names as well as more ordinary mortals of obviously substantial means.
- Miracles can be worked by Him alone, although mere mortals may entreat Him by prayer to perform them on their behalf.
- She held herself raised by her great prosperity above all that ordinary mortals fear and reverence.
- This increased exposure allows them to exploit their advantages over more ordinary mortals more easily than their predecessors could.
She lost the election by a mere 20 votes. He’s a mere child. It can’t be a mere coincidence that they left at the same time.2used to emphasize that something which is small or not extreme has a big effect or is important: The merest little noise makes him nervous. The mere thought of food made her feel sick. The mere fact that the talks are continuing is a positive sign.mere1 adjectivemere2 noun
meremere2 noun [countable] literary a lake