different between sheer vs perceptible

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

Borrowed from Late Latin perceptibilis, from Latin percipio.

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /p??s?pt?bl?/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /p??s?pt?bl?/

Adjective

perceptible (comparative more perceptible, superlative most perceptible)

1. Able to be perceived, sensed, or discerned.

Translations

Noun

perceptible (plural perceptibles)

1. Anything that can be perceived.

Catalan

Etymology

Borrowed from Late Latin perceptibilis (from Latin percipio), equivalent to percebre +? -ible.

Adjective

perceptible (masculine and feminine plural perceptibles)

1. perceptible

   Antonym: imperceptible

Derived terms

• perceptiblement

Further reading

• “perceptible” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
• “perceptible” in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana.
• “perceptible” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “perceptible” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Late Latin perceptibilis (from Latin percipio).

Pronunciation

Adjective

perceptible (plural perceptibles)

1. perceptible

Synonyms

• percevable

Antonyms

• imperceptible

Related terms

• percevoir

Further reading

• “perceptible” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Spanish

Etymology

Borrowed from Late Latin perceptibilis (from Latin percipio).

Adjective

perceptible (plural perceptibles)

1. perceptible

Related terms

• percibir