mere

英[mɪə] 美[mɪr]

近义词

反义词

复数: meres;最高级: merest;

mere 纯粹的，仅仅，只不过

来自拉丁语merus,明亮的，纯的，不掺假的，来自PIE*mer,发光，照耀，词源同morning.引申词义纯粹的，后用于副词仅仅，只不过。比较very,just.

mere 湖，池塘

来自mere,海，湖，池塘，来自Proto-Germanic*mari,海，来自PIE*mori,海，湖泊，词源同mare,marsh.后用于指湖，池塘。

mere: mere: see mermaid
mere (adj.): c. 1400, "unmixed, pure," from Old French mier "pure" (of gold), "entire, total, complete," and directly from Latin merus "unmixed" (of wine), "pure; bare, naked;" figuratively "true, real, genuine," probably originally "clear, bright," from PIE *mer- "to gleam, glimmer, sparkle" (cognates: Old English amerian "to purify," Old Irish emer "not clear," Sanskrit maricih "ray, beam," Greek marmarein "to gleam, glimmer"). Original sense of "nothing less than, absolute" (mid-15c., now only in vestiges such as mere folly) existed for centuries alongside opposite sense of "nothing more than" (1580s, as in a mere dream).
mere (n.): Old English mere "sea, ocean; lake, pool, pond, cistern," from Proto-Germanic *mari (cognates: Old Norse marr, Old Saxon meri "sea," Middle Dutch maer, Dutch meer "lake, sea, pool," Old High German mari, German Meer "sea," Gothic marei "sea," mari-saiws "lake"), from PIE *mori- "sea" (cognates: Latin mare, Old Church Slavonic morje, Russian more, Lithuanian mares, Old Irish muir, Welsh mor "sea," Gaulish Are-morici "people living near the sea").

1. The mere mention of John had touched a very raw nerve indeed.: 提到约翰就真的让人心痛。

2. The mere mention of food had triggered off hunger pangs.: 单单提到食物就引起了阵阵饥饿感。

4. It is too early to say whether the threats are mere sabre-rattling.: 现在断言这些威胁是否只是虚张声势还为时过早。

5. Is his promotion evidence of the minorities' advance, or mere tokenism?: 他的晋升是证明了少数族裔的进步，还是仅仅为了装点门面？