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Sheer vs Total - What's the difference?

sheer | total | Related terms |

As adjectives the difference between sheer and total

is that sheer is very thin or transparent while total is entire; relating to the whole of something.

As nouns the difference between sheer and total

is that sheer is the curve of the main deck or gunwale from bow to stern while total is an amount obtained by the addition of smaller amounts.

As verbs the difference between sheer and total

is that sheer is to swerve from a course while total is to add up; to calculate the sum of.

As an adverb sheer

is clean; quite; at once.

sheer

English

Etymology 1

From (etyl) (m), (m), (m), (m), from (etyl) .

Adjective

(en-adj)
  • (textiles) Very thin or transparent.
  • * '>citation
  • (obsolete) Pure; unmixed.
  • * Shakespeare
    • sheer ale
  • * Shakespeare
    • Thou sheer , immaculate, and silver fountain.
  • Being only what it seems to be; mere.
  • * 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.
  • Very steep; almost vertical or perpendicular.
  • Used to emphasize the amount or degree of something.
  • *
    • , title=The Mirror and the Lamp , chapter=2 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.}}
  • * 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):
    • 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, vertical

    Adverb

    (en adverb)
  • (archaic) clean; quite; at once.
    • (Milton)

    Etymology 2

    ; see also (m).

    Noun

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

    • Verb

    (en verb)
  • (chiefly, nautical) To swerve from a course.
    • A horse sheers at a bicycle.
  • * 1899 ,
    • I sheered her well inshore—the water being deepest near the bank, as the sounding–pole informed me.
  • (obsolete) To shear.
    • (Dryden)

    References

    (Webster 1913)

    Anagrams

    *

    total

    English

    Alternative forms

    * totall (obsolete)

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • An amount obtained by the addition of smaller amounts.
    • A total of £145 was raised by the bring-and-buy stall.
  • (informal, mathematics) Sum.
    • The total of 4, 5 and 6 is 15.

    See also

    * addition, summation: (augend) + (addend) = (summand) + (summand) = (sum, total) * subtraction: (minuend) ? (subtrahend) = (difference) * multiplication: (multiplier) × (multiplicand) = (factor) × (factor) = (product) * division: (dividend) ÷ (divisor) = (quotient), remainder left over if divisor does not divide dividend

    Synonyms

    * (sum) sum

    Derived terms

    * subtotal

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • Entire; relating to the whole of something.
  • :
  • *
  • *:Carried somehow, somewhither, for some reason, on these surging floods, were these travelers,. Even such a boat as the Mount Vernon offered a total deck space so cramped as to leave secrecy or privacy well out of the question, even had the motley and democratic assemblage of passengers been disposed to accord either.
  • *{{quote-magazine, date=2013-08-03, volume=408, issue=8847, magazine=(The Economist)
    • , title= Boundary problems , passage=Economics is a messy discipline: too fluid to be a science, too rigorous to be an art. Perhaps it is fitting that economists’ most-used metric, gross domestic product (GDP), is a tangle too. GDP measures the total value of output in an economic territory. Its apparent simplicity explains why it is scrutinised down to tenths of a percentage point every month.}}
  • ((used as an intensifier)) Complete; absolute.
  • :

    • Synonyms

    * (entire) entire, full, whole * (complete) absolute, complete, utter; see also

    Derived terms

    * total war

    Verb

  • To add up; to calculate the sum of.
    • When we totalled the takings, we always got a different figure.
  • To equal a total of; to amount to.
    • That totals seven times so far.
  • (transitive, US, slang) to demolish; to wreck completely. (from total loss)
    • Honey, I’m OK, but I’ve totaled the car.
  • To amount to; to add up to.
    • It totals nearly a pound.

    Synonyms

    * (add up) add up, sum * (demolish) demolish, trash, wreck

    Anagrams

    * 1000 English basic words ----