mere

Meaning

Adj

1. Just, only; no more than, pure and simple, neither more nor better than might be expected.
2. (obsolete) Pure, unalloyed .
3. (obsolete) Nothing less than; complete, downright .

Noun

Boundary, limit; a boundary-marker; boundary-line.

Verb

1. (obsolete, transitive) To limit; bound; divide or cause division in.
2. (intransitive, obsolete) To set divisions and bounds.
3. To decide upon the position of a boundary; to position it on a map.

Noun

A body of standing water, such as a lake or a pond (formerly even a body of seawater), especially a broad, shallow one. (Also included in place names such as Windermere.)

Noun

Alternative form of mayor and mair.

Noun

A Maori war-club.

Synonyms

only

simple

pure

just

lake

sheer

plain

loch

pool

sole

common

bare

absolute

empty

nothing but

merely

pond

mete

minor

minuscule

naught

normal

ordinary

peddling

pointless

rudimentary

sea

🌊

simply

small

solely

solitary

stark

straightforward

⬆️

touchable

unadulterated

unceremonious

uncomplicated

uncontaminated

undiluted

unmixed

unpretentious

unsophisticated

unstudied

untainted

unvalued

useless

usual

vacant

vain

very

Translations

simple

mero

meer

pur

louter

mero

nur

bloß

lago

llac

απλός

lac

deryaçe

semplice

lacus

Pronounced as (IPA)

/mɪə̯/

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English: mere

Cognate with Old English: āmerian

Inherited from Old English: mǣre

Cognate with Dutch: meer

Cognate with Icelandic: mærr

Cognate with Swedish: landamäre

Inherited from Old English: mere

Cognate with Western Frisian: mar

Cognate with Low German: Meer

Cognate with German: Meer

Cognate with Latin: mare

Cognate with Breton: mor

Cognate with Russian: мо́ре

In summary

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.