(1) In The Girl, the relationship moves from Pygmalion to Beauty and the Beast, before curdling into something more mutually destructive, if not downright abusive.
(2) Unfortunately, this explosion is mild compared with the number of myths, falsehoods and downright lies which have accompanied these ideas.
(3) It was ambitious, experimental and sometimes downright odd – but seductively, compulsively readable too.
(4) Patterson agrees that it’s all much more controlled now, but she also wonders whether at times the media can be too negative, doomy, and sometimes downright nasty.
(5) Indeed, such parochialism would be downright frowned upon by today's World Cup mentality, considering that both the official anthem and slogan this time round is the typically Fifa-ishly nonsensical, and distinctly Benetton-esque, "We Are One".
(6) And it means that if Labour were to win, Mr Brown would be very foolish, indeed downright wrong, to move Mr Darling.
(7) In excerpts of these videos I am shown making a series of glib, thoughtless and sometimes downright insulting comments”, Gruber told the committee.
(8) Because supply chains are so long and processors use subcontractors to supply meat when the volume of orders changes dramatically at short notice, it is all too easy for mislabelled, poorer quality, or downright fraudulent meat to be substituted for what is specified in big abattoirs and processing plants.
(9) They can look downright ladylike, even sexy, and this has caused the high street to go shorts-crazy.
(10) 8.24pm BST "The mood is downright miserable" – defense department education activity employee The Guardian's Ruth Spencer ( @ruths ) is in touch with federal workers affected by the shutdown.
(11) We do not claim an inch of land that does not belong to us, but we won’t give up any patch that is ours,” the newspaper said , adding: “China, of course, will not accept such downright political provocations.” The China Daily, Beijing’s English-language mouthpiece, claimed the “outrageously one-sided ruling” meant military confrontation in the region had become more likely.
(12) Though against Tampa Bay in the ALDS he was downright awful.
(13) In other words, it's hilarious to watch when sober, it's downright mindblowing if you're anything but.
(14) Of course the polarisation of old and young rests on a fallacy, if not a downright lie: that all young people possess perfect skin and gleaming hair, have non-stop sex, are bursting with energy and are never lonely.
(15) Evidence reveals, however, that our planet is an almost unimaginably complicated beast, which reacts to a dramatically changing climate in all manner of different ways; a few – like the aforementioned – straightforward and predictable; some surprising and others downright implausible.
(16) These can range from the well-established to the downright eccentric.
(17) Despite Downing Street's dismissal of the former president's claim, the conjunction is likely to feed the perceptions of some in China that western concern about human rights is at best selective and at worst downright hypocritical.
(18) Many millions of words have been spilt on the subject of the perfect cup of coffee, the vast proportion confusing or downright contradictory.
(19) 10.50pm BST 90+1 min: It's a measure of how downright German the Germans are that Manuel Neuer and his defenders were absolutely furious with each other for allowing Brazil to score that late goal.
(20) Whitehall eventually intervened, with a government inspector ruling: "Any system of control must make some small place for the dynamic, the unexpected, the downright quirky."
Sheer
Definition:
(v. i.) Bright; clear; pure; unmixed.
(v. i.) Very thin or transparent; -- applied to fabrics; as, sheer muslin.
(v. i.) Being only what it seems to be; obvious; simple; mere; downright; as, sheer folly; sheer nonsense.
(v. i.) Stright up and down; vertical; prpendicular.
(adv.) Clean; quite; at once.
(v. t.) To shear.
(v. i.) To decline or deviate from the line of the proper course; to turn aside; to swerve; as, a ship sheers from her course; a horse sheers at a bicycle.
(n.) The longitudinal upward curvature of the deck, gunwale, and lines of a vessel, as when viewed from the side.
(n.) The position of a vessel riding at single anchor and swinging clear of it.
(n.) A turn or change in a course.
(n.) Shears See Shear.
Example Sentences:
(1) Problems associated with school-based clinics include vehement opposition to sex education, financing, and the sheer magnitude of the adolescents' health needs.
(2) They argue that the US, the world's largest producer of greenhouse gases per capita (China recently surpassed us in sheer volume), needs to lead the fight to limit carbon emissions, rather continuing to block global treaties as it has done in the past.
(3) But with the advantages and attractions that Scotland already has, and, more importantly, taking into account the morale boost, the sheer energisation of a whole people that would come about because we would finally have our destiny at least largely back in our own hands again – I think we could do it.
(4) Obviously, the sheer number of lasers being used both clinically and experimentally indicates a great potential for further advancement and refinement in technique and surgical outcomes.
(5) I was amazed by the sheer scale of the operation, easily mistaken for a full military assault on a kraken.
(6) We can inhabit only one version of being human – the only version that survives today – but what is fascinating is that palaeoanthropology shows us those other paths to becoming human, their successes and their eventual demise, whether through failure or just sheer bad luck.
(7) The report, extracts of which were published by the investigative news website Exaro , is said to include “devastating detail” of the corporation’s “sheer scale of awareness” of the late star’s activities.
(8) There is a policy review process, a manifesto and the small matter of winning another election between here and catastrophe, but the sheer barbarism of the outlined idea is breathtaking.
(9) Back in the 1970s, a severe economic crisis revealed the sheer unsustainability of government policies.
(10) So we started asking them ridiculous questions about being single," says Lucas, "and the sheer number of misunderstandings about each other's lives felt like comedic material."
(11) He skirted round the issue of historic responsibility for the misery but referred to the sheer scale of the sacrifice, pointing out that, among more than 14,000 parishes in the whole of England and Wales, only about 50 so-called "thankful parishes" saw all their soldiers return.
(12) But all that has changed since I discovered the sheer joy of hunting down items with “reduced” stickers at my local Waitrose.
(13) TUC general secretary Brendan Barber welcomed the letters, which argue against the Conservative party's position that the sheer scale of the UK deficit means public spending must be cut immediately.
(14) This year though, the annual fest of tit tape, weepy self-congratulation and sheer star power will be remembered for more than a frock faux pas: there was a serious cock-up .
(15) Brown, from Sheerness in Kent, who was to earn £15,000 a year from the role, has apologised for causing offence with the messages she posted between the ages of 14 and 16.
(16) I hope that people feel inspired enough, maybe in the sheer face of loss, to just do what they should be doing in life.
(17) David Winnick, the MP for Walsall North, said: "None of [May's] excuses can explain away the sheer incompetence and shambles that have occurred on her watch."
(18) Through combination with a spherical disc face perpendicular to the axis of rotation, which protrudes only slightly from the hemispherical catheter tip, with a maximum at the center and minimum at the lateral borders, the lathing head has only a slight risk of perforation and no undesired sheering forces (Figures 2a to 2d).
(19) Redwoods are taller, but giant sequoias win for sheer mass: the General Sherman's trunk has a volume of 1,487 cubic metres and is estimated to weigh over 2,000 tonnes.
(20) "Some of you may have heard we have a new judge this year," said Forsyth, summoning his finest brow-raise and hauling the audience at least temporarily on side by sheer force of showbiz will.