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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
    
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, vapory [US], vapoury [Brit, Cdn]

1. Turn sharply; change direction abruptly
   "The motorbike sheered to the right"
   - 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
   - perpendicularly, orthogonally
    
2. Directly
   "he fell sheer into the water"

Sounds like: shear, Shia

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

See also: complete, pure, steep, thin

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

Encyclopedia: Sheer