What's the difference between mere and very?

Mere


Definition:

  • (n.) A pool or lake.
  • (n.) A boundary.
  • (v. t.) To divide, limit, or bound.
  • (n.) A mare.
  • (Superl.) Unmixed; pure; entire; absolute; unqualified.
  • (Superl.) Only this, and nothing else; such, and no more; simple; bare; as, a mere boy; a mere form.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) Interphase death thus involves a discrete, abrupt transition from the normal state and is not merely the consequence of progressive and degenerative changes.
  • (2) By way of major complications, merely one perforation occurred.
  • (3) Indeed, the nationalist and religious right bloc merely held steady , gaining just one seat.
  • (4) A brief review of the last decade or so of developments in health politics, policy and law suggests that health is no longer a field of mere "dynamics without change."
  • (5) The view that testes found lateral to the external ring and which could be pushed some way into the scrotum were merely retractile was questioned.
  • (6) In these three patients, laxity of the knee in flexion was so severe that posterior instability could not be corrected merely by patellar relocation.
  • (7) It has so far returned a mere $6m (£3.6m) of its relatively meagre $28m (£17.1m) budget, according to Forbes, a percentage of just 21%.
  • (8) In the literature this disease is presented merely as a metastasis.
  • (9) The plasmid-encoded activity does not merely replace the RecBCD enzyme failure but differs in several significant ways.
  • (10) Furthermore, changes between merely perceived identical parts can result in apparent depth.
  • (11) Thus, the long stalks of Sk1 or phosphate-starved caulobacters are not merely a function of their longer doubling times.
  • (12) Exogenous macromolecular DNA was able to repair, to an important degree the radiotoxic effect of 3H-thymidine on V79 cells by a mechanism other than the mere reduction of specific activity of 3H-thymidine.
  • (13) Multiple contacts between the gamma-subunit and calmodulin (delta-subunit), as indicated by our data, may help to explain why strongly denaturing conditions are required to dissociate these two subunits, whereas complexes of calmodulin with most other target enzymes can be readily dissociated by merely lowering Ca2+ to submicromolar concentrations.
  • (14) Scott insisted he was an abstract painter in the way he felt Chardin was too: the pans and fruit were uninteresting in themselves; they were merely "the means of making a picture", which was a study in space, form and colour.
  • (15) The charity Bite the Ballot , which persuaded hundreds of thousands to register before the last general election, is to set up “democracy cafes” in Starbucks branches, laying on experts to explain how to register and vote, and what the referendum is all about (Bite the Ballot does not take sides but merely encourages participation).
  • (16) These outcomes further supported the conclusion that the contextual stimuli exerted true conditional control over conditional relations in the equivalence classes and were not merely elements of compound stimuli.
  • (17) A mere glance at the time courses shows what reaction schemes are inapplicable.
  • (18) Since the discovery of the antidepressant effects of interventions in the sleep-wake cycle, a number of hypotheses have emerged according to which disturbances in sleep physiology are not merely expressions but essential components of the pathophysiology of depression.
  • (19) In a Facebook post , the songwriter and activist claims that Swift has merely chosen sides in the battle between Google and Spotify, saying that the singer was trying to “sell this corporate power play to us as some sort of altruistic gesture in solidarity with struggling music makers”.
  • (20) It is assumed that one function of grooming behaviour may be a merely cleansing one.

Very


Definition:

  • (v. t.) True; real; actual; veritable.
  • (adv.) In a high degree; to no small extent; exceedingly; excessively; extremely; as, a very great mountain; a very bright sum; a very cold day; the river flows very rapidly; he was very much hurt.

Example Sentences: