sheer
pronunciation
How to pronounce sheer in British English:
UK [ʃɪə(r)]
How to pronounce sheer in American English:
US [ʃɪr]
-
- Verb:
- turn sharply; change direction abruptly
- cause to sheer
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- Adjective:
- complete and without restriction or qualification; sometimes used informally as intensifiers
- not mixed with extraneous elements
- very steep; having a prominent and almost vertical front
- so thin as to transmit light
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- Adverb:
- straight up or down without a break
- directly
Word Origin
- sheer
- sheer: see shear
- sheer (adj.)
- c. 1200, "exempt, free from guilt" (as in Sheer Thursday, the Thursday of Holy Week); later schiere "thin, sparse" (c. 1400), from Old English scir "bright, clear, gleaming; translucent; pure, unmixed," and influenced by Old Norse cognate scær "bright, clean, pure," both from Proto-Germanic *skeran- (cognates: Old Saxon skiri, Old Frisian skire, German schier, Gothic skeirs "clean, pure"), from PIE root *(s)ker- (1) "to cut" (see shear (v.)). Sense of "absolute, utter" (sheer nonsense) developed 1580s, probably from the notion of "unmixed;" that of "very steep" (a sheer cliff) is first recorded 1800, probably from notion of "continued without halting." Meaning "diaphanous" is from 1560s. As an adverb from c. 1600.
- sheer (v.)
- 1620s, "deviate from course" (of a ship), of obscure origin, perhaps from Dutch scheren "to move aside, withdraw, depart," originally "to separate" (see shear (v.)). Related: Sheered; shearing. As a noun from 1660s.
Example
- 1. Both fallibility and reflexivity are sheer common sense .
- 2. That sheer convenience of multiple temptations is hard to duplicate elsewhere .
- 3. Two days later , they saw a sheer cliff .
- 4. The biggest driver of both deals is sheer willpower .
- 5. The cliffs are sheer , blasted smooth and bristling with broken glass .