Results

Definition of sheer : 1. A turn or change in a course.
2. Being only what it seems to be; obvious; simple; mere; downright; as, sheer folly; sheer nonsense.
3. Bright; clear; pure; unmixed.
4. Clean; quite; at once.
5. Shears See Shear.
6. Stright up and down; vertical; prpendicular.
7. The longitudinal upward curvature of the deck, gunwale, and lines of a vessel, as when viewed from the side.
8. The position of a vessel riding at single anchor and swinging clear of it.
9. To decline or deviate from the line of the proper course; to turn aside; to swerve; as, a ship sheers from her course; a horse sheers at a bicycle.
10. To shear.
11. Very thin or transparent; - applied to fabrics; as, sheer muslin.

Synonyms:

shorten, abbreviate, foreshorten, classic, vaporous, genuine, chop, transparent, reduce, crystal clear, dilute, trim down, innocent, see through, simple, curve, cut off, uncompounded, skip, trim, issue, immaculate, crook, incorrupt, cut down, unstained, vapourish, edit, prune, untarnished, plain, slue, geld, bold, patent, bare, snub, abridge, vapourous, chaste, skid, hack, uncorrupted, fragile, slight, contract, mere, perfect, veer, spare, delicate, true, unmistakable, slide, turn off, skew, unmixed, virtuous, miasmic, guileless, trim back, manifest, complete, vaporish, disregard, trend, yaw, change, stainless, pellucid, swerve, write out, classical, tailor, perpendicularly, switch off, unembellished, unvarnished, flimsy, homely, untainted, unblemished, rank, unmingled, thin, slew, make out, out-and-out, evident, cobwebby, slip, unsullied, holy, clear, abrupt, bluff, spotless, diaphanous, arc, filmy, unspotted, ignore, bring down, vapourific, clean, cut, translucent, downright, fine, edit out, kink, unpatterned, thin out, crystalline, turn out, unornamented, unpolluted, smooth, precipitous, wind, soft, twist, ethereal, unadulterated, absolute, lucid, cut back, undefiled, guiltless, curl, arch, rationalize, limpid, continent, pure, burn, apparent, real, gossamer, vaporific, gauzy, right-down, rationalise, miasmal, gauze-like

quite, altogether, utter

perpendicular, steep, longitudinal, erect, up-and-down, vertical, upright

Usage examples:

• They had, however, great difficulty with the cattle and pigs, but after several attempts to break away, and being nearly lost in the swamps, from which many of them had to be dragged out by sheer force, the whole reached the river. - "Beric the Briton A Story of the Roman Invasion", G. A. Henty.
• It was brandy- sheer brandy. - "The Claverings", Anthony Trollope.
• Three days after leaving Futtygurh our best horse died, from sheer fatigue in drawing our conveyance through the sand. - "Life and Work in Benares and Kumaon, 1839-1877", James Kennedy.