B1adjective · common

sheer

sheer · sheerer · sheerest

чистий, повний, прозорий, справжній

чистый, полный, прозрачный, настоящий

transparent, rein, bloß, durchsichtig

Very thin or transparentVery thin or transparent.

ⓘ

UK/ʃɪə̯/US/ʃɪɚ/

» It's a sheer waste of time.

Це пусте гаяння часу.

Meaning

5 senses

Very thin or transparent.
Her light, sheer dress caught everyone’s attention.
hauchdünn, transparent, durchsichtig
прозра́чныйprozráčnyj
прозо́рийprozóryj
so thin as to transmit light
(broadly)Downright; complete; pure.
I think it is sheer genius to invent such a thing.
This poem is sheer nonsense.
steil, vertikal, senkrecht
по́лныйpólnyj, чи́стыйčístyj, вертика́льныйvertikálʹnyj
по́внийpóvnyj, чи́стийčýstyj, перпендикуля́рнийperpendykuljárnyj
Used to emphasize the amount or degree of something.
The army's sheer size made it impossible to resist.
bloß, schier, pur
су́щийsúščij, чи́стыйčístyj, настоя́щийnastojáščij
чи́стийčýstyj, і́стинийístynyj, спра́вжнійsprávžnij
Very steep; almost vertical or perpendicular.
It was a sheer drop of 180 feet.
very steep; having a prominent and almost vertical front
(obsolete)Pure in composition; unmixed; unadulterated.

Examples

69 sentences

It's a sheer waste of time.
Це пусте гаяння часу.
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This is sheer nonsense.
Це повна нісенітниця.
deDas ist lauterer Unsinn.
CC BY · Tatoeba · mailohilohi · B1Open on Tatoeba Report a problem
That was sheer nonsense.
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We survived by sheer luck.
ruМы выжили по чистой случайности.
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It is a sheer waste of time.
Це тільки даремна трата часу.
ruЭто пустая трата времени.
deDas ist reine Zeitverschwendung.
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Translations

9 languages

Українська

By meaning 4

very thin or transparent:

downright; complete:

straight up and down; vertical; perpendicular:

(used to emphasize):

Русский

By meaning 4

very thin or transparent:

downright; complete:

straight up and down; vertical; perpendicular:

(used to emphasize):

Deutsch

By meaning 3

very thin or transparent:

straight up and down; vertical; perpendicular:

(used to emphasize):

Origin

From Middle English shere, scheere, schere, skere, from Old English sċǣre (“pure, sheer; s

From Middle English shere, scheere, schere, skere, from Old English sċǣre (“pure, sheer; shining, clear”), from Proto-Germanic *skairiz; supplanted the semantically close shire (dialectal), from Middle English schyre, schire, shire, shir, from Old English sċīr (“clear, bright; brilliant, gleaming, shining, splendid, resplendent; pure”), beside which existed Middle English skyr, from Old Norse skírr (“pure, bright, clear”), both from Proto-Germanic *skīriz (“pure, sheer”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ḱeh₁y- (“luster, gloss, shadow”).

Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source

Forms

sheerer/more sheer, sheerest/most sheer

Comparative	sheerer / more sheer Lesson
Superlative	sheerest / most sheer Lesson

regular

Synonyms

66 synonyms

thinA1 pureB1 utterC2 abjectC2 absoluteB1 prizeB1 cleanA1 completeA2 fullA1 mereB1 perfectA2 preciousB1 properA2 rankB1

Close in meaning

not mixed with extraneous elements:plain unmingled unmixed
very steep; having a prominent and almost vertical front:bluff bold
complete and without restriction or qualification; sometimes used informally as intensifiers:absolute downright out-and-out rank right-down
so thin as to transmit light:diaphanous filmy gauzy gauze-like gossamer see-through transparent vaporous

Antonyms

1 antonyms

opaqueC2

Word family

10 related words

RelatedtotalB1 slopeB1 transparentB2

Derivedsemisheer sheerish sheerly sheerness sheer-to-waist supersheer ultrasheer

Lessons for this word

2 lessons

A2Comparatives — Because it has a comparative form
A2Superlatives — Because it has a superlative form