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• mere
  mere

  adjective

  being nothing more nor better than.
• mère
  mère

  noun

  mother.
• -mere
  -mere

  a combining form meaning “part,” used in the formation of compound words.
• –mere
  –mere

  A suffix meaning “part” or “segment,” as in blastomere, one of the cells that form a blastula.

mere

¹ American  

[meer] / mɪər /

adjective

• merest
  superlative

1. being nothing more nor better than.

   a mere pittance;

   He is still a mere child.

2. Obsolete.

   1. pure and unmixed, as wine, a people, or a language.

   2. fully as much as what is specified; completely fulfilled or developed; absolute.

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mere ² American  

[meer] / mɪər /

noun

1. Chiefly British Dialect. a lake or pond.

2. Obsolete. any body of sea water.

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mere ³ American  

[meer] / mɪər /

Or mear

noun

British Dialect.

1. a boundary or boundary marker.

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mère ⁴ American  

[mer, mair] / mɛr, mɛər /

noun

French.

• mères
  plural

1. mother.

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-mere ⁵ American  

1. a combining form meaning “part,” used in the formation of compound words.

   blastomere.

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mere ¹ British  

/ ˈmɛrɪ /

noun

1. a short flat striking weapon

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mere ² British  

/ mɪə /

noun

1. archaic a lake or marsh

2. obsolete the sea or an inlet of it

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-mere ³ British  

combining form

1. indicating a part or division

   blastomere

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mere ⁴ British  

/ mɪə /

adjective

1. being nothing more than something specified

   she is a mere child

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mere ⁵ British  

/ mɪə /

noun

1. archaic a boundary or boundary marker

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–mere Scientific  

1. A suffix meaning “part” or “segment,” as in blastomere, one of the cells that form a blastula.

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Usage

What does -mere mean? The combining form -mere is used like a suffix meaning “part.” It is often used in scientific terms, especially in biology and anatomy. The form -mere comes from Greek méros, meaning “part” or “portion.” From this same source, we also get the combining forms -mer and -merous. Want to know more? Check out our Words That Use entries for both forms.

Synonym Usage

Mere, bare imply a scant sufficiency. They are often interchangeable, but mere frequently means no more than (enough). Bare suggests scarcely as much as (enough). Thus a mere livelihood means enough to live on but no more; a bare livelihood means scarcely enough to live on.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• -meric
  combining form

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• mères
  plural

Adjectives

• merest
  superlative

Etymology

Origin of mere¹

First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English mer(e) “pure, clear, unmixed,” from Old French mier, mer, from Latin merus “pure, unmixed, simple, mere”

Origin of mere²

First recorded before 900; Middle English mere, mer, meire, Old English mer, mære “sea, ocean, lake, pond, well, cistern,” cognate with German Meer, Old Norse marr, Gothic marei, Old Irish muir, Latin mare

Origin of mere³

First recorded before 900; Middle English mere, mer, merre, Old English mǣre, gemǣre; cognate with Old Norse mæri “boundary, border land”; akin to Latin mūrus “defensive wall, city wall, boundary wall”

Origin of -mere⁵

Combining form representing Greek méros

Explanation

Mere means pure and simple, nothing more and nothing less. If the mere mention of someone's name makes you happy, then just hearing his name — and that alone — is enough to make you smile. Mere can have a little irony attached. If you introduce yourself as "a mere student," when you’re announcing your astounding invention, you're contrasting your lowly status with the enormity of your invention. This kind of mere comes from the Latin for "undiluted." Mere has a homograph — a completely different word that's spelled the same — and this mere means a lake or a pond. It’s related to the Dutch word meer — there’s lots of water in Holland.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

mere mère mères merest

The measure is a mere proxy to the thing we actually care about.

From Slate ● Aug. 11, 2026

He faces opposition in particular from UEFA, which on Thursday stood by its threat to boycott the World Cups, deeming the mere withdrawal of the controversial plan to be insufficient.

From Barron's ● Aug. 8, 2026

The mere sight of us pulling out the camera and squinting through its tiny viewfinder draws attention – "I've not seen one of these in years", a man remarks.

From BBC ● Aug. 8, 2026

County Commission on Human Relations said there were 1,355 reported hate crime victims in the county during 2024, a mere 1% decrease from the prior year.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 7, 2026

But assumption was symptomatic of malevolent tendencies that transcended mere dollars and cents.

From "Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation" by Joseph J. Ellis

Am wondering about the recipe recited to you by "Ma mère" with the potatoes, onions, mussels, scallops, etc.

From New York Times ● Sep. 20, 2016

I thought of George Perec's La Disparition, which was written in French without using the letter "e", a restriction that meant he could not write père, mère, parents, famille, or his own name.

From The Guardian ● Jul. 26, 2012

Well, I must give Madame la mère counsel better to guard against such accidents hereafter; and how to behave when they occur.”

From Gwen Wynn A Romance of the Wye by Mayne Reid

It means becoming that exalted personage, a mère de famille.

From The Galaxy Vol. 23, No. 1 by Various

"Pray forgive me, chère mère," she said, breaking into French, which she pronounced with a very charming accent.

From A Queen's Error by Henry Curties

The brigade system became standard in ambitious French restaurants, as did a more stylized form of cooking that took pains to set itself apart from what the mères had achieved.

From New York Times ● Jul. 21, 2020

He growled out affably: "Mais non, on ne mange pas les enfants, ni leurs mères," and gathered up the baby and passed him about for the others to look at.

From A Journal From Our Legation in Belgium by Hugh Gibson

Even the shepherds had lost the power of communing with the planets at night; and all the valley read the Petit Journal instead of consulting the vieilles mères.

From In and out of Three Normady Inns by Anna Bowman Dodd

Before Lamarck, naturalists saw organisms as passive, depending on supernatural intervention for their merest actions as well as their very existence.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 20, 2026

But for now he is a jovial Irish scamp, with the merest hint of a dark streak; where Sherlock comes from money, James, as he’s called here, is at school on a scholarship.

From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 3, 2026

She reset to hold, then wrestled back the break, allowing herself the merest of smiles.

From Barron's ● Jan. 31, 2026

Before Saturday, the atmospheric spigots of April had given us the merest trickle of moisture.

From Washington Post ● Apr. 15, 2023

I stopped and my senses poised themselves on the brink of insensibility, ready to swoop away at the merest nod from me.

From "Nectar in a Sieve" by Kamala Markandaya

Related Words

• bare
• minor
• pure
• sheer
• simple