sheer

Word family

Related topics: Material & textiles

sheer1 /ʃɪə $ ʃɪr/ adjectiveadj → shear

1 the sheer weight/size etc EMPHASIZEused to emphasize that something is very heavy, large etc 〔某物〕之重/之大等〔用于强调〕

the sheer weight/size etc of

The sheer size of the country makes communications difficult.

该国幅员辽阔，造成了通信的困难。

Examples from the Corpus

the sheer weight/size etc• Ari was exhausted by the sheer weight of first impressions of the city.• He forced though - even if going back: the sheer weight of his blows - Anton down on his hands and knees.• First, there was the sheer size of his positions.• Then there's the sheer size of the damn thing.• One of the difficulties is the sheer size of the family.• He was slightly taken aback by the sheer size of the girl.• I grow bored with the sheer size of the glass and have to force myself to continue, he wrote.• The intensity of the introductions made me tremble, overtaken by the sheer weight of their status.

2 sheer luck/happiness/stupidity etc VERYluck, happiness etc with no other feeling or quality mixed with it 纯粹的运气/快乐/愚蠢等 SYN pure

I’ll never forget the look of sheer joy on her face.

我永远也不会忘记她满脸喜悦的神情。

sheer hypocrisy

十足的虚伪

Examples from the Corpus

sheer luck/happiness/stupidity etc• She flung out her hands and caught the edge of the stone by sheer luck.• So I guessed right; sheer luck.• Would anybody see if I just nudged them over the edge for their sheer stupidity?• He made it through sheer luck and by attaching himself to one guy after another and then stepping over them.• By sheer luck I had given Reuters their biggest news scoop since the assassination of Abraham Lincoln in 1865.

3. VERTICALa sheer drop, cliff, slope etc is very steep and almost vertical 〔悬崖、斜坡等〕陡峭的，近乎垂直的

4 TIMSEEsheer nylon, silk etc is very thin and fine, so that it is almost transparent 〔尼龙、丝绸等〕很薄的，几乎透明的

sheer stockings

透明的女式长筒袜

Examples from the Corpus

sheer• For sheer cleverness she could run rings around them all.• Teetering on the sheer cliff, Tallis peered down at the river.• The coastguard duties included patrolling paths at the top of high and sheer cliffs - not a job for the faint-hearted.• The coastguard patrols paths at the top of high and sheer cliffs.• sheer curtains• Tennis courts lit pointlessly except to inform the driver of the sheer dimension of the leisure complex burst into life.• I stood at the edge of the old chalk quarry, with a sheer drop of ten or twenty metres below me.• What he lacked in aesthetic grace Bob Willis made up in speed, determination and sheer guts.• For the rest of the programme was sheer hagiography.• Immense and sheer, the mountains emerge from a fog of silk.

sheer2 adverbadv

VERTICALstraight up or down in an almost vertical line 陡峭地，近乎垂直地 SYN steeply

cliffs which rose sheer from the sea

从海面垂直拔起的悬崖

Examples from the Corpus

sheer• On their left it sloped gently away and on the right it fell sheer, in steep crags.

sheer3 verb [intransitiveI always + adverbadv/prepositionprep]

to change direction suddenly, especially in order to avoid something 突然转向〔尤指为了避开某物〕 SYN swerve

sheer off/away

The boat sheered away and headed out to sea.

这艘小船突然转向朝大海驶去。

Examples from the Corpus

sheer• Rimmed by a waist-high balustrade, the garden sheers down some twenty feet.• I checked the needles more thoroughly and discovered that the very tip of the latch of a needle was sheered off.• Finally on the fourth day one of the anchor ropes sheered through and we lost that anchor to the gale.

sheer off/away• I checked the needles more thoroughly and discovered that the very tip of the latch of a needle was sheered off.

Origin sheer

(1500-1600) Probably from Old Norse skærr “pure”