mere1

[meer] /mɪər/
adjective, superlative merest.
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.
Origin
1250-1300; Middle English < Latin merus pure, unmixed, mere
Synonyms
1. 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.

mere2

[meer] /mɪər/
noun
1.
Chiefly British Dialect. a lake or pond.
2.
Obsolete. any body of sea water.
Origin
before 900; Middle English, Old English; cognate with German Meer, Old Norse marr, Gothic marei, Old Irish muir, Latin mare

mere3

[meer] /mɪər/
noun, British Dialect
1.
a boundary or boundary marker.
Also, mear.
Origin
before 900; Middle English; Old English (ge)mǣre; cognate with Old Norse mǣri; akin to Latin mūrus wall, rim

mère

[mer; English mair] /mɛr; English mɛər/
noun, plural mères
[mer; English mairz] /mɛr; English mɛərz/ (Show IPA). French.
1.
mother.
Can be confused
mere, mère, mirror.

-mere

1.
a combining form meaning “part,” used in the formation of compound words:
blastomere.
Compare -mer, -merous.
Origin
combining form representing Greek méros
Examples from the web for mere
  • Calling a cellphone a mere phone seems a little silly these days.
  • Byrnes bolted out the front door of the clubhouse riding his beach cruiser bicycle mere minutes after the game ended.
  • The disparity goes beyond mere headcounts.
  • As of yesterday the trekkers were a mere 13 miles (21 kilometers) shy of their goal.
  • As a second-generation general manager of a legendary comics shop, that's not mere hyperbole.
  • This seemingly naive affirmation is no mere rhetorical device.
  • mere friends are we,—well, friends the merest.
  • No longer is the fruit a mere ingredient in fattening desserts.
  • It may come as a shock, then, that mere mortals have now made artificial life.
  • Coral Sea begins mere steps from 40 stylish open-air rooms.
British Dictionary definitions for mere

mere1

/mɪə/
adjective (superlative) merest
1.
being nothing more than something specified: she is a mere child
Word Origin
C15: from Latin merus pure, unmixed

mere2

/mɪə/
noun
1.
(archaic or dialect) a lake or marsh
2.
(obsolete) the sea or an inlet of it
Word Origin
Old English mere sea, lake; related to Old Saxon meri sea, Old Norse marr, Old High German mari; compare Latin mare

mere3

/mɪə/
noun
1.
(archaic) a boundary or boundary marker
Word Origin
Old English gemǣre

mere4

/ˈmɛrɪ/
noun
1.
(NZ) a short flat striking weapon
Word Origin
Māori

-mere

combining form
1.
indicating a part or division: blastomere
Derived Forms
-meric, combining_form:in_adjective
Word Origin
from Greek meros part, portion
Word Origin and History for mere
adj.

c.1400, "unmixed, pure," from Old French mier "pure" (of gold), "entire, total, complete," and directly from Latin merus "unmixed" (of wine), "pure; bare, naked;" figuratively "true, real, genuine," probably originally "clear, bright," from PIE *mer- "to gleam, glimmer, sparkle" (cf. Old English amerian "to purify," Old Irish emer "not clear," Sanskrit maricih "ray, beam," Greek marmarein "to gleam, glimmer"). Original sense of "nothing less than, absolute" (mid-15c., now only in vestiges such as mere folly) existed for centuries alongside opposite sense of "nothing more than" (1580s, e.g. a mere dream).

n.

Old English mere "sea, ocean; lake, pool, pond, cistern," from Proto-Germanic *mari (cf. Old Norse marr, Old Saxon meri "sea," Middle Dutch maer, Dutch meer "lake, sea, pool," Old High German mari, German Meer "sea," Gothic marei "sea," mari-saiws "lake"), from PIE *mori- "sea" (cf. Latin mare, Old Church Slavonic morje, Russian more, Lithuanian mares, Old Irish muir, Welsh mor "sea," Gaulish Are-morici "people living near the sea").

mere in Medicine

-mere or -mer
suff.
Part; segment: blastomere, polymer.

mere in Science
-mere or -mer  
A suffix meaning "part" or "segment," as in blastomere, one of the cells that form a blastula.