Word.ws English Dictionary

How to use mere in a sentence

40 example sentences · adjective, noun, verb

Mere means just, only; no more than, pure and simple, neither more nor better than might be expected. Example: “The mere thought of pineapple on pizza makes me want to throw up.”

Examples of mere by meaning

adjectiveJust, only; no more than, pure and simple, neither more nor better than might be expected.

  • The mere thought of pineapple on pizza makes me want to throw up.
  • The mere suggestion that the queen’s brother tried to kill your boy would be considered treason.
  • Thus the red damask curtains which now shut out the fog-laden, drizzling atmosphere of the Marylebone Road, had cost a mere song, and yet they might have been warranted to last another thirty years.1913, Mrs. [Marie] Belloc Lowndes, chapter I, in The Lodger, London: Methuen, →OCLC; republished in Novels of Mystery: The Lodger; The...

verbTo decide upon the position of a boundary; to position it on a map.

  • What chance is there of revising this example of case law to include an exception to the generally cited rule when an administrative boundary has been mered in the past to coincide with a private property boundary?2016 April, David EM Andrews, “Merely a question of boundaries.”, in Sheetlines, The Charles Close Society, →ISSN

nounA body of standing water, inclusive of lakes, ponds, and pools, especially any broad and shallow one.

  • She loved.. to watch the lovely shadows in the silent depths of the placid mere.1913, Annie S. Swan, The Fairweathers
  • Lok got to his feet and wandered along by the marshes towards the mere where Fa had disappeared.1955, William Golding, The Inheritors, Faber & Faber, published 2005, page 194

nounA Maori war-club.

  • As Owen prepared to dismiss the matter, Rule produced something that really caught the great man's eye – a greenstone mere, the warclub of the Maori.2000, Errol Fuller, Extinct Birds, Oxford, page 41

More sentences with mere

  • This expression is utterly devoid of meaning, a mere flatus vocis.From the entry flatus
  • The setback left him a mere shell; he was never the same again.From the entry shell
  • He disliked being treated as a mere appendage to the committee.From the entry appendage
  • The examination for priesthood is no mere formality, so we have to study well.From the entry formality
  • These latest modifications are mere window dressing; the same problems remain.From the entry window dressing
  • Although they were once in the forefront of consumer electronics, the calculators have become a mere commodity.From the entry commodity
  • He added a long litany of peripheral precedents which the judge dismissed as mere makeweights.From the entry makeweight
  • Everywhere he saw flutters of war and knew the rumors of peace were mere idle talk.From the entry flutter
  • The artifact was cleaned sonically in the ultrasonic cleaner tank in mere seconds.From the entry sonically
  • The rain came down drenchingly and we were soaked to the skin in mere seconds.From the entry drenchingly
  • In a constructivist classroom, sciencing is valued over the mere memorization of facts.From the entry sciencing
  • We had no trouble crossing the brook, which was a mere tricklet.From the entry tricklet
  • The perseverance of the saints is positive willedness, not mere passive willingness.From the entry willedness
  • He was put out at the mere suggestion of misconduct.From the entry put out
  • The mere idea of you is enough to excite me.From the entry idea
  • Safety at work is not a mere detail.From the entry detail
  • She asked the question out of mere curiosity.From the entry out of
  • Her wisdom was beyond that of a mere mortal.From the entry mortal
  • The brook had shrunk to a mere trickle.From the entry trickle
  • The holidays are a mere one week away.From the entry a
  • Good decision-making is not governed by mere sentiment.From the entry sentiment
  • The judge ruled the testimony as mere hearsay.From the entry hearsay
  • Mere footsteps away from the victim lay the murder weapon.From the entry footstep
  • The new teacher is a mere pup.From the entry pup
  • The politicians of the world are mere political university dropouts.From the entry dropout
  • From the foothills below, Jean, Jan, and James were mere flyspecks, easily lost among the straggly pines that formed the treeline.From the entry flyspeck
  • Some crimes clearly warrant more than a mere wrist-slap — physically dangerous people must be removed from circulation.From the entry wrist-slap
  • It is a mere on dit.From the entry on dit
  • She kindly remonstrated us for allowing our yoga to be so unintentional; she reminded us that it is supposed to be more than mere absent-minded stretching.From the entry unintentional
  • Some are mere lumps of pigment that detect light; others are simple cups lacking lenses.2026 February 23, Carl Zimmer, “The Rise of Eyes Began With Just One. Even Charles Darwin was puzzled by the evolution of the vertebrate…. From the entry cyclops
  • But the mere fact that we even have to ask this question is chilling.2026 March 16, Michael Tomasky, “A Big Announcement Is Coming This Week. Americans Should Be Nervous.”, in The New Republic, archived from…. From the entry partly
  • I swear my mere presence, boymoding or girlmoding, has historically spread transness.2022 March 23, bowbow 🫐💾💿 (@TwinkFreaks), “Archived copy”, in Twitter, archived from the original on 11 Jun 2024. From the entry girlmode
  • I deal with more than mere funerals; I deal with death, passing on, the transition.”2021, Percival Everett, The Trees, Influx Press (2022), page 91. From the entry mortician

Meaning of mere

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

Full definition of mere

Questions about mere in a sentence

How do you use mere in a sentence?
Mere is used as an adjective, noun and verb. For example: “The mere thought of pineapple on pizza makes me want to throw up.”
What is a short sentence with mere?
“It is a mere on dit.”
What does mere mean?
Mere means just, only; no more than, pure and simple, neither more nor better than might be expected.

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: mere (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Cite this page: “How to use mere in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/mere. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.