MERE in a Sentence

Learn MERE from example sentences, some of them are from classic books. These examples are selected from a corpus with 300,000 sentences, including classic works and current mainstream media. Some sentences also link to their contexts.

For MERE, below is one of 297 sentences:
She reclined, propped up, from mere habit, on a couch: as nearly in her old usual attitude, as anything so helpless could be kept in.

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 Meanings and Examples of MERE
Definition Example Sentence Classic Sentence
mere
 a.  being nothing more than what is specified; considered apart from anything else; small; slight
Classic Sentence: (210 in 15 pages)
1  I've told you all I know myself now, for the rest is mere surmise and conjecture.
A Study In Scarlet By Arthur Conan Doyle
Context  Highlight   In PART I: CHAPTER IV. WHAT JOHN RANCE HAD TO TELL
2  The mere sight of an official-looking person seals men's lips.
A Study In Scarlet By Arthur Conan Doyle
Context  Highlight   In PART I: CHAPTER VI. TOBIAS GREGSON SHOWS WHAT HE CAN DO
3  It can't be a coincidence," he cried, at last springing from his chair and pacing wildly up and down the room; "it is impossible that it should be a mere coincidence.
A Study In Scarlet By Arthur Conan Doyle
Context  Highlight   In PART I: CHAPTER VII. LIGHT IN THE DARKNESS
4  We want something more than mere theory and preaching now, though.
A Study In Scarlet By Arthur Conan Doyle
Context  Highlight   In PART I: CHAPTER VII. LIGHT IN THE DARKNESS
5  The mere knowing of his name is a small thing, however, compared with the power of laying our hands upon him.
A Study In Scarlet By Arthur Conan Doyle
Context  Highlight   In PART I: CHAPTER VII. LIGHT IN THE DARKNESS
6  No doubt it appeared to you to be a mere trampled line of slush, but to my trained eyes every mark upon its surface had a meaning.
A Study In Scarlet By Arthur Conan Doyle
Context  Highlight   In PART II: CHAPTER VII. THE CONCLUSION
7  Still, on going up the principal staircase--there was another, a mere ladder at the back for the servants--there was a portrait.
Between the Acts By Virginia Woolf
Context  Highlight   In Unit 1
8  It's not to be denied that one of 'em has left her sphere, has shot, has eloped, to put it plainly, with the entrails of a time-piece, the mere pendulum of a grandfather's clock.'
Between the Acts By Virginia Woolf
Context  Highlight   In Unit 10
9  It was a night of little ease to his toiling mind, toiling in mere darkness and besieged by questions.
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde By Robert Louis Stevenson
Context  Highlight   In CHAPTER SEARCH FOR MR. HYDE
10  A dismal screech, as of mere animal terror, rang from the cabinet.
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde By Robert Louis Stevenson
Context  Highlight   In CHAPTER THE LAST NIGHT
11  Others will follow, others will outstrip me on the same lines; and I hazard the guess that man will be ultimately known for a mere polity of multifarious, incongruous, and independent denizens.
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde By Robert Louis Stevenson
Context  Highlight   In CHAPTER HENRY JEKYLL'S FULL STATEMENT OF THE CASE
12  It is a mere question of figures, a case of simple arithmetic.
Hard Times By Charles Dickens
Context  Highlight   In BOOK 1: CHAPTER II
13  His short-cropped hair might have been a mere continuation of the sandy freckles on his forehead and face.
Hard Times By Charles Dickens
Context  Highlight   In BOOK 1: CHAPTER II
14  Some purpose or other is so natural to every one, that a mere loiterer always looks and feels remarkable.
Hard Times By Charles Dickens
Context  Highlight   In BOOK 2: CHAPTER VI
15  She reclined, propped up, from mere habit, on a couch: as nearly in her old usual attitude, as anything so helpless could be kept in.
Hard Times By Charles Dickens
Context  Highlight   In BOOK 2: CHAPTER VII
Example Sentence: (87 in 6 pages)
16  The mere mention of the words "heart failure", can conjure up, to the layman, the prospect of imminent death.
17  The mere mention of the subject set the whole company by the ears.
18  Happiness lies not in the mere possession of money ; it lies in the joy of achievement, in the thrill of creative effort.
19  Miracles can be worked by Him alone, although mere mortals may entreat Him by prayer to perform them on their behalf.
20  We are mere pawns in the struggle for power.
21  He is a mere nobody, and it is mere a matter of time for people to recognize him.
22  I have been relegated to the role of a mere assistant.
23  Some cynics say that sport is a mere instrument of capitalist domination.
24  I asked was it a mere nervous impression--a delusion? I could not conceive or believe: it was more like an inspiration.
25  I take advantage of all possible resources to win, not a mere essay of my power.
26  His is a glamorous version of the American immigrant dream, arriving as a mere Austrian bodybuilder before finding fame, fortune and wife.
27  Do we not grovel here long enough, eating and drinking like mere brutes?
28  Your hope of promotion is a mere delusion.
29  But there are certain snobbish types who would resent the intrusion of mere laymen into sorceral affairs.
30  In these days of inflated prices, my salary provides a mere subsistence.