- [only before noun] used to emphasize the size, degree or amount of something
- The area is under threat from the sheer number of tourists using it.
- We were impressed by the sheer size of the cathedral.
- [only before noun] complete and not mixed with anything else synonym utter
- The concert was sheer delight.
- sheer luck/chance/coincidence/joy/bliss/determination
- I only agreed out of sheer desperation.
- sheer terror/panic/exhaustion/hell
More Like This Adjectives that only come before a nounAdjectives that only come before a noun - very steep
- sheer cliffs/slopes
- Outside there was a sheer drop down to the sea below.
- (of cloth, etc.) thin, light and almost transparent
- sheer nylon
Word Originadjective 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 cent. the word was used to describe clear, pure water, and also in sense (4).
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sheer