mere

Plural: meres

Noun

a small pond of standing water
Boundary, limit; a boundary-marker; boundary-line.
A body of standing water, such as a lake or a pond (formerly even a body of seawater), especially a broad, shallow one. (Also included in place names such as Windermere.)
Alternative form of mayor and mair.
A Maori war-club.

Adjective Satellite

being nothing more than specified
- "a mere child"
apart from anything else; without additions or modifications
- "shocked by the mere idea"

Adj

Just, only; no more than, pure and simple, neither more nor better than might be expected.
Pure, unalloyed .
Nothing less than; complete, downright .

Verb

To limit; bound; divide or cause division in.
To set divisions and bounds.
To decide upon the position of a boundary; to position it on a map.

Examples

"The mere thought of pineapple on pizza makes me want to throw up."

Origin / Etymology

From Middle English mere, mer, from Anglo-Norman meer, from Old French mier, from Latin merus (“pure, unmixed, undiluted”), from Proto-Indo-European *mer- (“to sparkle, gleam”).
Cognate with Old English āmerian, āmyrian (“to purify, examine, revise”). The Middle English word was perhaps influenced by or conflated with sound-alike Middle English mere (“glorious, noble, splendid, fine, pure”), from Old English mǣre (“famous, great, excellent, sublime, splendid, pure, sterling”), from Proto-West Germanic *mārī, from Proto-Germanic *mērijaz.

Synonyms

alone, bare, only, simple, very

Scrabble Score: 6

mere is a valid Scrabble (US) TWL word
mere is a valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
mere is a valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary

Words With Friends Score: 7

mere is a valid Words With Friends word