Meaning & Definition of Sheer in English

1. Turn sharply

• Change direction abruptly

• "The car cut to the left at the intersection"

• "The motorbike veered to the right"

2. Cause to sheer

• "She sheered her car around the obstacle"

1. Complete and without restriction or qualification

• Sometimes used informally as intensifiers

• "Absolute freedom"

• "An absolute dimwit"

• "A downright lie"

• "Out-and-out mayhem"

• "An out-and-out lie"

• "A rank outsider"

• "Many right-down vices"

• "Got the job through sheer persistence"

• "Sheer stupidity"

2. Not mixed with extraneous elements

• "Plain water"

• "Sheer wine"

• "Not an unmixed blessing"

3. Very steep

• Having a prominent and almost vertical front

• "A bluff headland"

• "Where the bold chalk cliffs of england rise"

• "A sheer descent of rock"

4. So thin as to transmit light

• "A hat with a diaphanous veil"

• "Filmy wings of a moth"

• "Gauzy clouds of dandelion down"

• "Gossamer cobwebs"

• "Sheer silk stockings"

• "Transparent chiffon"

• "Vaporous silks"

1. Straight up or down without a break

2. Directly

• "He fell sheer into the water"