different between sheer vs consummate

English

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /????/
• (US) IPA^(key): /???/
• Rhymes: -??(?)
• Homophone: shear

Etymology 1

From Middle English shere, scheere, schere, skere, from Old English s??re; merged with Middle English schyre, schire, shire, shir, from Old English s??r (“clear, bright; brilliant, gleaming, shining, splendid, resplendent; pure”) and Middle English skyr, from Old Norse skírr (“pure, bright, clear”), both from Proto-Germanic *sk?riz (“pure, sheer”) and *skairiz, from Proto-Indo-European *s??y- (“luster, gloss, shadow”).

Cognate with Danish skær, German schier (“sheer”), Dutch schier (“almost”), Gothic ???????????????????????? (skeirs, “clear, lucid”). Outside Germanic, cognate to Albanian hir (“grace, beauty; goodwill”).

Adjective

sheer (comparative sheerer or more sheer, superlative sheerest or most sheer)

1. (textiles) Very thin or transparent.

2. (obsolete) Pure in composition; unmixed; unadulterated.
   • c. 1592, William Shakespeare, The Taming of the Shrew, Induction, scene ii:

     If she say I am not fourteen pence on the score for sheer ale, score me up for the lying’st knave in Christendom.

   • c. 1595, William Shakespeare, King Richard the Second, Act V, scene iii:

     Thou sheer, immaculate and silver fountain, / From when this stream through muddy passages / Hath held his current and defiled himself!

3. (by extension) Downright; complete; pure.
   • 2012, July 15. Richard Williams in Guardian Unlimited, Tour de France 2012: Carpet tacks cannot force Bradley Wiggins off track

     Cycling's complex etiquette contains an unwritten rule that riders in contention for a race win should not be penalised for sheer misfortune.

4. Used to emphasize the amount or degree of something.
   • 2012 October 31, David M. Halbfinger, "[4]," New York Times (retrieved 31 October 2012):

     Perhaps as startling as the sheer toll was the devastation to some of the state’s well-known locales. Boardwalks along the beach in Seaside Heights, Belmar and other towns on the Jersey Shore were blown away. Amusement parks, arcades and restaurants all but vanished. Bridges to barrier islands buckled, preventing residents from even inspecting the damage to their property.

5. Very steep; almost vertical or perpendicular.

Synonyms

• (very thin or transparent): diaphanous, see-through, thin
• (pure, unmixed): pure, undiluted
• (downright, complete): downright, mere (obsolete), pure, unmitigated
• (straight up and down): perpendicular, steep, vertical

Derived terms

• sheerly
• sheerness
• sheer-to-waist

Translations

Adverb

sheer (comparative more sheer, superlative most sheer)

1. (archaic) Clean; quite; at once.

Translations

Noun

sheer (plural sheers)

1. A sheer curtain or fabric.

Translations

Etymology 2

Perhaps from Dutch scheren (“to move aside, skim”); see also shear.

Noun

sheer (plural sheers)

1. (nautical) The curve of the main deck or gunwale from bow to stern.
2. (nautical) An abrupt swerve from the course of a ship.

Translations

Verb

sheer (third-person singular simple present sheers, present participle sheering, simple past and past participle sheered)

1. (chiefly nautical) To swerve from a course.
2. (obsolete) To shear.

   • So thick, our navy scarce could sheer their way

Translations

Further reading

• sheer at OneLook Dictionary Search
• Douglas Harper (2001–2021) , “sheer”, in Online Etymology Dictionary

References

Anagrams

• Esher, Herse, Rhees, heers, here's, heres, herse

Burushaski

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [?e??]

Noun

sheer (plural sheerisho)

1. lion

References

Sadaf Munshi (2015) , “Word Lists”, in Burushaski Language Documentation Project?^[5].

Middle English

Noun

sheer

1. Alternative form of shere

English

Etymology

From Latin c?nsumm?tus, past participle of c?nsumm?re (“to sum up, finish, complete”), from com- (“together”) + summa (“the sum”) (see sum, summation).

Pronunciation

Adjective

• (UK) enPR: k?n's?m?t, k?n'syo?om?t, k?ns?m'?t, IPA^(key): /?k?ns?m?t/, /?k?nsj?m?t/, /k?n?s?m?t/
• (US) enPR: k?n's?m?t, k?ns?m'?t, IPA^(key): /?k?ns?m?t/, /k?n?s?m?t/

Verb

• (UK) enPR: k?n's?m?t, k?n'syo?om?t, IPA^(key): /?k?ns?me?t/, /?k?nsj?me?t/
• (US) enPR: k?n's?m?t, IPA^(key): /?k?ns?me?t/

Adjective

consummate (comparative more consummate, superlative most consummate)

1. Complete in every detail, perfect, absolute.

   Synonyms: absolute, complete, perfect, sheer, total, utter; see also Thesaurus:total

   • 1859, George Meredith, The Ordeal of Richard Feverel, Chapter 5:

     A sweeping and consummate vengeance for the indignity alone should satisfy him.

   • 1880, Georges Bernard Shaw, The Irrational Knot, Chapter VII,

     […] Marmaduke, who had the consummate impudence to reply that […]

   • 1900, Guy Wetmore Carryl, "The Singular Sangfroid of Baby Bunting",

     Belinda Bellonia Bunting//Behaved like a consummate loon

2. Highly skilled and experienced; fully qualified.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:skilled

   • 1910, Lionel Giles (translator), The Art of War, Section IV (originally by Sun Tzu)

     The consummate leader cultivates the moral law, […]  ; thus it is in his power to control success.

Derived terms

• consummately

Translations

Verb

consummate (third-person singular simple present consummates, present participle consummating, simple past and past participle consummated)

1. (transitive) To bring (a task, project, goal etc.) to completion; to accomplish.

   Synonyms: complete, finish, round off; see also Thesaurus:end
2. (transitive) To make perfect, achieve, give the finishing touch.

   Synonyms: complete, perfect, top off

3. (transitive) To make (a marriage) complete by engaging in first sexual intercourse.
4. (intransitive) To become perfected, receive the finishing touch.

   Synonyms: come to a head, mature, ripe

Derived terms

• consummation
• consummative
• consummator
• consummatory

Related terms

• consume

Translations

Further reading

• consummate in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• consummate in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

Latin

Verb

c?nsumm?te

1. second-person plural present active imperative of c?nsumm?