1. Complete and without restriction or qualification; sometimes used informally as an intensifier
   "got the job through sheer persistence"; "sheer stupidity";
   - absolute, downright, out-and-out, rank, right-down, down-the-line [informal]
    
2. Not mixed with extraneous elements
   "sheer wine";
   - plain, unmingled, unmixed
    
3. Very steep; having a prominent and almost vertical front
   "a sheer descent of rock";
   - bluff, bold
    
4. So thin as to transmit light
   "sheer silk stockings";
   - diaphanous, filmy, gauzy, gauze-like, gossamer, see-through, transparent, vaporous, vapourous [Brit, non-standard], cobwebby, vapoury [Brit, Cdn], vapory [US]

1. Turn sharply; change direction abruptly
   "The ship sheered to avoid the rocks";
   - swerve, curve, trend, veer, slue, slew, cut
    
2. Cause to turn sharply or change direction abruptly
   "She sheered her car around the obstacle"

1. Straight up or down without a break
   "The cliff rose sheer from the sea";
   - perpendicularly, orthogonally
    
2. Completely
   "he fell sheer into the water"

Sounds like: shee

Derived forms: sheering, sheerest, sheers, sheered, sheerer

See also: complete, pure, steep, thin

Type of: channelise [Brit], channelize, direct, guide, head, maneuver [US], manoeuvre [Brit, Cdn], point, steer, turn

Encyclopedia: Sheer