Talk:sheer

The case of a sheer curtain

Would "sheer" be defined in noun, or adjective ? --Jerome Potts 03:52, 18 July 2009 (UTC)

In your byspel: adjectiv --AnWulf ... Ferþu Hal! 23:43, 30 November 2011 (UTC)

Collocations of sheer#Adjective

1. SHEER NUMBER 341 D
2. SHEER SIZE 311 D
3. SHEER NUMBERS 283 D
4. SHEER VOLUME 256 D
5. SHEER FORCE 189 D
6. SHEER JOY 113 P
7. SHEER SCALE 95 D
8. SHEER PLEASURE 90 P
9. SHEER TERROR 90 P
10. SHEER WEIGHT 87 D
11. SHEER CLIFFS 72 G
12. SHEER WILL 66 P
13. SHEER ROCK 63 G
14. SHEER BEAUTY 62 P
15. SHEER LUCK 62 C
16. SHEER POWER 62 D
17. SHEER MAGNITUDE 61 D
18. SHEER AMOUNT 54 D
19. SHEER CLIFF 54 G
20. SHEER DROP 49 G
21. SHEER DETERMINATION 47 P
22. SHEER QUANTITY 44 D
23. SHEER COINCIDENCE 34 C
24. SHEER STRENGTH 34 D?
25. SHEER WALLS 34 G
26. SHEER CURTAINS 32 T
27. SHEER DELIGHT 32 P
28. SHEER EXHAUSTION 31 P
29. SHEER PANIC 31 P
30. SHEER WILLPOWER 30 P
31. SHEER VARIETY 29 P
32. SHEER FUN 28 P
33. SHEER SCOPE 28 D
34. SHEER MASS 27 D
35. SHEER WALL 27 G
36. SHEER SPEED 25 D
37. SHEER CHANCE 24 C
38. SHEER ENERGY 23 P
39. SHEER GRANITE 23 G
40. SHEER AUDACITY 22 P
41. SHEER BULK 22 D
42. SHEER COMPLEXITY 22 D?
43. SHEER EXCITEMENT 22 P
44. SHEER FACT 22 P?
45. SHEER HORROR 22 P
46. SHEER LOVE 22 P
47. SHEER NONSENSE 22 P
48. SHEER ACCIDENT 21 C
49. SHEER DESPERATION 21 P
50. SHEER FABRIC 21 T
51. SHEER MADNESS 21 P
52. SHEER ABUNDANCE 20 D
53. SHEER EFFORT 20 P
54. SHEER GENIUS 20 P
55. SHEER STUPIDITY 20 P
56. SHEER SURVIVAL 20 P
57. SHEER BLISS 19 P
58. SHEER PRESENCE 19 P
59. SHEER INTENSITY 18 P
60. SHEER ENORMITY 17 P
61. SHEER FACE 17 G
62. SHEER IGNORANCE 17 P
63. SHEER PERSISTENCE 17 P
64. SHEER PHYSICALITY 17 P
65. SHEER BRILLIANCE 16 P
66. SHEER DIFFICULTY 16 P
67. SHEER ENJOYMENT 16 P
68. SHEER SILK 16 T
69. SHEER BOREDOM 15 P
70. SHEER BREADTH 15 D?
71. SHEER FANTASY 15 P
72. SHEER FRUSTRATION 15 P
73. SHEER LACK 15  ?
74. SHEER LINE 15 ?
75. SHEER SPECULATION 15 P
76. SHEER DRAMA 14 P
77. SHEER EXHILARATION 14 P
78. SHEER EXUBERANCE 14 P
79. SHEER MOMENTUM 14 P
80. SHEER TALENT 14 P
81. SHEER BRAVADO 13 P
82. SHEER BRUTALITY 13 P
83. SHEER CHIFFON 13 T
84. SHEER CURTAIN 13 T
85. SHEER GUTS 13 P
86. SHEER HELL 13 P
87. SHEER NOVELTY 13 P
88. SHEER DROPS 12 G
89. SHEER FOLLY 12 P
90. SHEER GROWTH 12 P
91. SHEER LUNACY 12 P
92. SHEER REPETITION 12 P
93. SHEER THRILL 12 P
94. SHEER ARROGANCE 11 P
95. SHEER COLOR 11 P
96. SHEER COST 11 D
97. SHEER FABRICS 11 T
98. SHEER IDIOCY 11 P
99. SHEER MATERIAL 11 T
100. SHEER RANGE 11 DP?

• • TOTAL 4023
• G (geology) 351
• T (textiles) 121
• C (contingency) 141
• "lack"
• D degree (quantity)
• P pure?

Frequency of nouns following "sheer" at COCA. DCDuring TALK 04:30, 3 February 2016 (UTC)

RFV discussion: January–September 2016

The following discussion has been moved from Wiktionary:Requests for verification (permalink).

This discussion is no longer live and is left here as an archive. Please do not modify this conversation, but feel free to discuss its conclusions.

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sheer

Definiton 3: "Being only what it seems to be; mere."

Is this an actual definition, or is it an attempt at defining the same sense that definition 5, "Used to emphasize the amount or degree of something", does? The usage examples don't seem to fit the definition at any rate, and I think neither definitions 3 nor 5 are very good. I think something like "Pure, downright," etc. better capture the actual meaning. Andrew Sheedy (talk) 06:06, 31 January 2016 (UTC)

I"ll go ahead and make the changes I see fit if no one objects. Andrew Sheedy (talk) 01:30, 3 February 2016 (UTC)

You do need to make sure that the wording of your proposed definition does not overlap with that of definition 2, the obsolete one. DCDuring TALK 02:10, 3 February 2016 (UTC)

I will do so. Andrew Sheedy (talk) 02:21, 3 February 2016 (UTC)

Senses 3 and 5 appear to be elaborations of sense 2. Of the two, sense 5 is worded better, but it's still basically the same as sense 2 IMO, and all three should probably be combined. P Aculeius (talk) 04:10, 3 February 2016 (UTC)

I would say that senses 3 and 5 are more accurately extensions of sense 2, not the same as it. The usage examples given for the latter don't seem to fit under the modern senses of the word, and someone describing ale or a fountain as "sheer" would probably not be readily understood. I'll probably rearrange the order of the definitions. I'll hold off on doing so until this discussion seems to be over, however. Andrew Sheedy (talk) 04:36, 3 February 2016 (UTC)

Let's not be too dismissive of the definitions, despite what seems like awkward wording. The definitions are 100+ years old, from Webster 1913, perhaps earlier. The words used in the definitions are probably less used or have shifted meanings a bit. DCDuring TALK 10:33, 3 February 2016 (UTC)

I'm not dismissing them, just saying that they all seem to be getting at the same thing, and it's not clear that the examples have truly separable meanings. For example, in perhaps the most familiar phrase, "sheer genius," does the speaker mean "pure genius" (sense 2), "mere genius" (as in nothing but, sense 3), or "extensive genius" (sense 5)? All seem equally applicable, and it's very doubtful that most speakers intend only one of them, excluding the others. The phrase (and many similar constructions) are generally used without putting that degree of thought into the meaning of "sheer". I also don't think that sense 2 is obsolete, to the extent that "pure" is taken in its metaphorical sense, since that seems to be fairly close to the meaning of phrases like "sheer genius," "sheer madness," "sheer brilliance," "sheer inspiration," "sheer majesty," and soforth. P Aculeius (talk) 04:30, 4 February 2016 (UTC)

I have rewritten the RFV'd definition. I did use the word pure, which overlaps a bit with the obsolete sense, but I added further clarification in that one ("pure" just seemed like the best word to use for both senses.) Feel free to make improvements. Andrew Sheedy (talk) 02:10, 8 February 2016 (UTC)

It looks much better to me, but I no longer have fresh eyes with which to evaluate the entry. DCDuring TALK 16:56, 8 February 2016 (UTC)

• Resolved: RFV tag removed by the nominator. —Mr. Granger (talk • contribs) 20:22, 4 September 2016 (UTC)