adj · name · noun · verb · 17 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
Sound
Pronunciation
Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.
Received-Pronunciation:/mɪə̯/
British, Southern, Standard:/mɪː/
British, Southern, Standard:/mɪjə/
General-American:/mɪɚ/
US:Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
New-Zealand:/miə/
Scotland:/miɾ/
Scotland:[miːɾ]
General-South-African:/mjøː/
/mjɜː/Wales, other regions
/mɛː/East Anglia, cheer–chair merger
homophone: mear
homophone: mirror (some North American accents)
homophone: mare (cheer–chair merger)
rhymes with -ɪə(ɹ)
rhymes with -ɜː(ɹ) (in some varieties of English)
/ˈmɛɹi/
/ˈmɛɹɛ/
Southern-England:Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
Southern-England:Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
rhymes with -ɛɹi
rhymes with -ɛɹɛ
CMU ARPABET:M IH1 R
Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
1
adj
Meaning 1
Just, only; no more than, pure and simple, neither more nor better than might be expected.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Examples
The mere thought of pineapple on pizza makes me want to throw up.
The mere suggestion that the queen’s brother tried to kill your boy would be considered treason.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: alone, bare, simple, only, very
Antonyms: none provided
2
adj
Meaning 2
Pure, unalloyed .
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: obsolete
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
A village and civil parish in northern Cheshire East district, Cheshire, England (OS grid ref SJ7381).
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
5
name
Meaning 5
A small town and civil parish with a town council in south-west Wiltshire, England (OS grid ref ST8132).
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
6
name
Meaning 6
A sub-municipality in East Flanders, Belgium.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
7
noun
Meaning 7
Boundary, limit; a boundary-marker; boundary-line.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
8
noun
Meaning 8
Synonym of sea, a large body of salt water.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: obsolete
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: sea
Antonyms: none provided
9
noun
Meaning 9
Synonym of inlet, an arm of the sea.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: obsolete
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: inlet
Antonyms: none provided
10
noun
Meaning 10
A body of standing water, inclusive of lakes, ponds, and pools, especially any broad and shallow one.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: UK, dialectal, literary
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
11
noun
Meaning 11
Synonym of marsh.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: UK, dialectal
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: marsh
Antonyms: none provided
12
noun
Meaning 12
Alternative form of mayor and mair.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: alt-of, alternative, obsolete
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
13
noun
Meaning 13
A Maori war-club.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
14
verb
Meaning 14
To limit; bound; divide or cause division in.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: obsolete, transitive
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
15
verb
Meaning 15
To set divisions and bounds.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: intransitive, obsolete
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
16
verb
Meaning 16
To decide upon the position of a boundary; to position it on a map.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Topics: cartography, geography, natural-sciences
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
17
noun
Meaning 17
a small pond of standing water
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: pond, pool
History
Etymology
From Middle English mere, mer, from Anglo-Norman meer, from Old French mier, from Latin merus (“pure, unmixed, undiluted”), from Proto-Indo-European *mer- (“to sparkle, gleam”). Cognate with Old English āmerian, āmyrian (“to purify, examine, revise”). The Middle English word was perhaps influenced by or conflated with sound-alike Middle English mere (“glorious, noble, splendid, fine, pure”), from Old English mǣre (“famous, great, excellent, sublime, splendid, pure, sterling”), from Proto-West Germanic *mārī, from Proto-Germanic *mērijaz.
# For the places in England: from Old English mere (“lake, pond”). # For the place in Belgium: from Middle Dutch mēre, from Old Dutch meri (“lake, sea”).
From Middle English mere, from Old English mǣre, ġemǣre (“boundary; limit”), from Proto-Germanic *mairiją (“boundary”), from Proto-Indo-European *mey- (“to fence”). Cognate with Dutch meer (“a limit, boundary”), Icelandic mærr (“borderland”), Swedish landamäre (“border, borderline, boundary”).
From Middle English mere, from Old English mere (“lake, pool,” in compounds and poetry “sea”), from Proto-West Germanic *mari (“sea”), from Proto-Germanic *mari, from Proto-Indo-European *móri. Cognate with West Frisian mar, 'lake', Dutch meer, 'lake', Low German Meer, and German Meer, 'sea'. Non-Germanic cognates include Latin mare, Breton mor, and Russian мо́ре (móre). Doublet of maar and mare (“a large, dark plain; a lake on Titan”).
See mayor.
Borrowed from Māori mere (“more”).
Across languages
Translations
27 source translations are retained for this English entry.
Bulgarian:
само
(samo)
— just, only; no more than
Catalan:
mer
— just, only; no more than
Chinese:
僅 /仅
— just, only; no more than
Dutch:
schamel
— just, only; no more than
Dutch:
luttel
— just, only; no more than
Dutch:
louter
— just, only; no more than
Finnish:
pelkkä
— just, only; no more than
French:
simple
— just, only; no more than
German:
bloß
— just, only; no more than
Hungarian:
puszta
— just, only; no more than
Hungarian:
csupán
— just, only; no more than
Khmer:
គ្រាន់តែ
(kroan tae)
— just, only; no more than
Polish:
sam
— just, only; no more than
Portuguese:
mero
— just, only; no more than
Romanian:
simplu
— just, only; no more than
Russian:
просто́й
(prostój)
— just, only; no more than
Russian:
не бо́лее чем
(ne bóleje čem)
— just, only; no more than
Serbo-Croatian:
пуки
— just, only; no more than
Spanish:
mero
— just, only; no more than
Swedish:
bara
— just, only; no more than
Swedish:
blott
— just, only; no more than
Ottoman Turkish:
قورو
(kuru)
— just, only; no more than
Ukrainian:
прости́й
(prostýj)
— just, only; no more than
Ukrainian:
лише́
(lyšé)
— just, only; no more than
Bulgarian:
чист
(čist)
— pure, unalloyed
Bulgarian:
пълен
(pǎlen)
— nothing less than
Bulgarian:
абсолютен
(absoljuten)
— nothing less than