being nothing more nor better than.
a mere pittance;
He is still a mere child.
Obsolete.
pure and unmixed, as wine, a people, or a language.
fully as much as what is specified; completely fulfilled or developed; absolute.
Chiefly British Dialect. a lake or pond.
Obsolete. any body of sea water.
archaic a lake or marsh
obsolete the sea or an inlet of it
What does -mere mean? The combining form -mere is used like a suffix meaning “part.” It is often used in scientific terms, especially in biology and anatomy. The form -mere comes from Greek méros, meaning “part” or “portion.” From this same source, we also get the combining forms -mer and -merous. Want to know more? Check out our Words That Use entries for both forms.
Mere, bare imply a scant sufficiency. They are often interchangeable, but mere frequently means no more than (enough). Bare suggests scarcely as much as (enough). Thus a mere livelihood means enough to live on but no more; a bare livelihood means scarcely enough to live on.
First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English mer(e) “pure, clear, unmixed,” from Old French mier, mer, from Latin merus “pure, unmixed, simple, mere”
First recorded before 900; Middle English mere, mer, meire, Old English mer, mære “sea, ocean, lake, pond, well, cistern,” cognate with German Meer, Old Norse marr, Gothic marei, Old Irish muir, Latin mare
First recorded before 900; Middle English mere, mer, merre, Old English mǣre, gemǣre; cognate with Old Norse mæri “boundary, border land”; akin to Latin mūrus “defensive wall, city wall, boundary wall”
Combining form representing Greek méros
Mere means pure and simple, nothing more and nothing less. If the mere mention of someone's name makes you happy, then just hearing his name — and that alone — is enough to make you smile. Mere can have a little irony attached. If you introduce yourself as "a mere student," when you’re announcing your astounding invention, you're contrasting your lowly status with the enormity of your invention. This kind of mere comes from the Latin for "undiluted." Mere has a homograph — a completely different word that's spelled the same — and this mere means a lake or a pond. It’s related to the Dutch word meer — there’s lots of water in Holland.
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That history should make us cautious about treating progress made by AI in pure mathematics as a mere intellectual curiosity.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 14, 2026
Although “Bohemian Rhapsody” is still the highest-grossing musical biopic, “Michael” is a mere $11 million behind and will likely snag the title in coming weeks.
From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 10, 2026
The mere fact that markets returned to their AI fixation on Monday suggests last week’s talk of a near-term pullback seems premature.
From Barron's • Jun. 9, 2026
The ninth studio album from British virtual band Gorillaz came to fruition in the wake of creators Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett losing their fathers a mere 10 days apart.
From Salon • Jun. 5, 2026
The floe was now a mere fifty yards across.
From "Shipwreck at the Bottom of the World" by Jennifer Armstrong
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
