Word familyadverbmerelyadjectivemerestmerenounmeresmanmerestone
mere1 /mɪə $ mɪr/ ●○○adjectiveadj (superlativesuplmerest) [only before noun, no comparative]
1LITTLE/NOT MUCHused to emphasize how small or unimportant something or someone is 仅仅,只不过〔用于强调小或微不足道〕
She lost the election by a mere 20 votes.
她仅仅以20票之差落选。
He’s a mere child.
他只是个孩子。
It can’t be a mere coincidence that they left at the same time.
他们同时离开不可能仅仅是巧合。
2EFFECT/INFLUENCEused to emphasize that something which is small or not extreme has a big effect or is important 极小的,极不重要的〔用于表示某物虽小或平常,却有很大的影响或重要性〕
The merest little noise makes him nervous.
一丁点的响声也会使他紧张。
The mere thought of food made her feel sick.
一想到食物她就恶心。
The mere fact that the talks are continuing is a positive sign.
会谈仍在继续,单单这一点就是个好的征兆。
Examples from the Corpus
mere• In December he found Herbie Roberts, 21, an amateur wing-half from Oswestry, who cost a mere £200.• Admission costs a mere $5 for adults, and only $1 for children.• Most of the soldiers were mereboys.• Jobs requiring merebrawn are dwindling, replaced by lower-paid jobs requiring skill, education and a high degree of interpersonalpolish.• If so, it is perhaps surprising that a threat of a merebreach of contract should give rise to liability.• How can you expect him to understand? He's a mere child.• His own, over the Ohio River at Wheeling, lasted a mere five.• I can hardly see that a merefrigate is going to inconvenience you to all that extent.• Yet some things that look like cynicism may be mere ineptness.• The meremention of Ronan's name made her heartbeatfaster.• It was clearly something more than a meremortalstorm and in point of fact Juno was back of it.• Stock prices dropped at the merest rumor of a company takeover.• There have been reports that she is going to resign, but it's merespeculation at the moment.• The mere thought of drinking whiskey makes me feel sick.• Most of the opponents of enclosure at Nottingham were not, therefore, merevillains.
mere coincidence• I didn't tell him about the handbill I had found; indeed, I quickly dismissed that as a mere coincidence.• It has happened too often to me to be mere coincidence.• Logicsuggests this can not be reduced to mere coincidence.• That may be mere coincidence-but it is also perhaps symbolic.• Another mere coincidence, say school officials, adding that Tarkanian was adamant about having such a watchdog on staff.
The mere fact• These schools were, for the most part, inferior. The mere fact of racialimbalancerepresented a form of inequality.• What had made him change his mind? The mere fact of Ryan's being in her cottage?
mere• Next we have fisheries, such as the Cheshire meres, which are idealenvironments for producing really big bream.• There is even a bird-enticing mere built especially for them, with islands, and high banks to keep out unwantedhumans.• Some of the most famous big bream waters in Britain are the Cheshire and Shropshire meres.• I followed a path to the hide by the mere.• On several of the meres I fish I can tell to within a few minutes when I will get bites.