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Tenuous vs Sheer - What's the difference?

tenuous | sheer | Related terms |

Tenuous is a related term of sheer.


As adjectives the difference between tenuous and sheer

is that tenuous is thin in substance or consistency while sheer is (textiles) very thin or transparent.

As an adverb sheer is

(archaic) clean; quite; at once.

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.

tenuous

English

Adjective

(en adjective)
  • Thin in substance or consistency.
  • The aether was thought to be of tenuous strands.
  • insubstantial
  • His argument was not convincing in the debate, considering how tenuous it was.
  • * July 18 2012 , Scott Tobias, AV Club The Dark Knight Rises [http://www.avclub.com/articles/the-dark-knight-rises-review-batman,82624/]
  • Picking up eight years after The Dark Knight left off, the film finds Gotham enjoying a tenuous peace based on Harvey Dent’s moral ideals rather than the ugly truth of his demise.

    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

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