Standard Lemma guide

mere

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.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: immaculate, unadulterated, pristine, chaste, cherry, clean, flawless, halal, ideal, kosher, mere, natural, perfect, pure, simon-pure, unalloyed, uncontaminated, undefiled, unpolluted, unsullied, untainted, untouched, virgin

Antonyms: none provided

3

adj

Meaning 3

Nothing less than; complete, downright .

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: obsolete

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: absolute, thorough, utter, abject, frightful, arrant, categoric, categorical, complete, consummate, decided, downright, full, full-blown, full-bore, full-on, mere, outright, out-and-out, perfect, precious, proper, pure, stark, rank, regular, right, root and branch, sheer, straight-out, thoroughgoing, total, unadulterated, unalloyed, unattenuated, uncompromising, unconditional, unfettered, unmitigated, unqualified, unreserved, unrestricted, wholesale

Antonyms: none provided

4

name

Meaning 4

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