Sheer vs Literally - What's the difference?
sheer | literally |
(textiles) Very thin or transparent.
* '>citation
(obsolete) Pure; unmixed.
* Shakespeare
* Shakespeare
Being only what it seems to be; mere.
* 2012 , July 15. Richard Williams in Guardian Unlimited,
Very steep; almost vertical or perpendicular.
Used to emphasize the amount or degree of something.
*
, title=The Mirror and the Lamp
, chapter=2 * 2012 October 31, David M. Halbfinger, "[http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/01/nyregion/new-jersey-continues-to-cope-with-hurricane-sandy.html?hp]," New York Times (retrieved 31 October 2012):
(nautical) The curve of the main deck or gunwale from bow to stern.
(nautical) An abrupt swerve from the course of a ship.
(chiefly, nautical) To swerve from a course.
* 1899 ,
(obsolete) To shear.
(Webster 1913)
(speech act) word for word; not figuratively; not as an idiom or metaphor
* {{quote-news
, year=2012
, date=May 24
, author=Nathan Rabin
, title=Film: Reviews: Men In Black 3
, work=The Onion AV Club
(degree, proscribed) used non-literally as an intensifier for figurative statements : virtually (often considered incorrect; see usage notes)
* 1827 , Sir Walter Scott, Chronicles of the Canongate
* 1993 , , Real Magic , page 193:
* 2009 , :
(colloquial) Used as a generic downtoner : just, merely.
As adverbs the difference between sheer and literally
is that sheer is (archaic) clean; quite; at once while literally is (speech act) word for word; not figuratively; not as an idiom or metaphor.As an adjective sheer
is (textiles) very thin or transparent.As a noun sheer
is (nautical) the curve of the main deck or gunwale from bow to stern.As a verb sheer
is (chiefly|nautical) to swerve from a course.sheer
English
Etymology 1
From (etyl) (m), (m), (m), (m), from (etyl) .Adjective
(en-adj)- sheer ale
- Thou sheer , immaculate, and silver fountain.
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.
citation, passage=That the young Mr. Churchills liked—but they did not like him coming round of an evening and drinking weak whisky-and-water while he held forth on railway debentures and corporation loans. Mr. Barrett, however, by fawning and flattery, seemed to be able to make not only Mrs. Churchill but everyone else do what he desired. And if the arts of humbleness failed him, he overcame you by sheer impudence.}}
- 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.
Synonyms
* (very thin or transparent) diaphanous, see-through, thin * downright, mere, pure, undiluted, unmitigated * (straight up and down) perpendicular, steep, verticalEtymology 2
; see also (m).Noun
(en noun)Verb
(en verb)- A horse sheers at a bicycle.
- I sheered her well inshore—the water being deepest near the bank, as the sounding–pole informed me.
- (Dryden)
References
Anagrams
*literally
English
Alternative forms
* litterally (obsolete)Adverb
(-)- When I saw on the news that there would be no school tomorrow because of the snowstorm, I literally jumped for joy, and hit my head on the ceiling fan.
citation, page= , passage=Sequels to fish-out-of-water comedies make progressively less sense the longer a series continues. By the time Crocodile Dundee In Los Angeles rolled around in 2001, 15 years after the first Crocodile Dundee became a surprise blockbuster, the title character had been given an awfully long time to grow acclimated to those kooky Americans. Men In Black 3 finagles its way out of this predicament by literally resetting the clock with a time-travel premise that makes Will Smith both a contemporary intergalactic cop in the late 1960s and a stranger to Josh Brolin, who plays the younger version of Smith’s stone-faced future partner, Tommy Lee Jones.}}
- The house was literally electrified; and it was only from witnessing the effects of her genius that he could guess to what a pitch theatrical excellence could be carried.
- You literally become the ball in a tennis match, you become the report that you are working on
- - She took a giant shit on my face. Literally.
- - Literally?
- - Well, no, not literally . That's disgusting. What's wrong with you?
- You literally put it in the microwave for five minutes and it's done.