What's the difference between sheer and utter?

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.

Utter


Definition:

  • (a.) Outer.
  • (a.) Situated on the outside, or extreme limit; remote from the center; outer.
  • (a.) Complete; perfect; total; entire; absolute; as, utter ruin; utter darkness.
  • (a.) Peremptory; unconditional; unqualified; final; as, an utter refusal or denial.
  • (a.) To put forth or out; to reach out.
  • (a.) To dispose of in trade; to sell or vend.
  • (a.) hence, to put in circulation, as money; to put off, as currency; to cause to pass in trade; -- often used, specifically, of the issue of counterfeit notes or coins, forged or fraudulent documents, and the like; as, to utter coin or bank notes.
  • (a.) To give public expression to; to disclose; to publish; to speak; to pronounce.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) In the experiments to be reported here, computer-averaged EMG data were obtained from PCA of native speakers of American English, Japanese, and Danish who uttered test words embedded in frame sentences.
  • (2) This study examined the frequency of occurrence of velar deviations in spontaneous single-word utterances over a 6-month period for 40 children who ranged in age from 1:11 (years:months) to 3:1 at the first observation.
  • (3) Her speech suggested the kind of Republican who would truly "raise the conversation", and if it seems like settling to want an opposition party to simply not be so utterly vindictive, well, yes, I will settle for that.
  • (4) Theresa May has shown a complete and utter lack of interest in Northern Ireland since taking office.
  • (5) The results of the present study focused on differences in types of self-touching by patients and physicians, semantic content of utterances when self-touching was displayed, and temporal location of self-touching within the speech stream.
  • (6) A single-subject design was applied to study increase in functional use of language by a 14-yr.-old Down Syndrome girl from a mean length of utterance of 1.3 words to 4.4 in a classroom, 5.1 in the restaurant, and 4.7 during transportation.
  • (7) The media is utterly self-obsessed and we get more ink than perhaps we should do.
  • (8) Instead, because of other people, it all too often becomes something else: a complete and utter hell.
  • (9) Three male and 2 female subjects produced six repetitions of 12 utterances that were initiated and terminated by vowels and consonants of differing phonetic features.
  • (10) The infant, who was utterly small for his gestational age, showed an aberrant motoric pattern and a high forehead, low-set ears, a prominent occiput and scoliosis, an extension defect in the knee joints and flexed, ulnar-deviated wrists.
  • (11) "How these union bosses get elected, how they raise money, how they disperse money is a complete and utter mystery.
  • (12) Thus in your own words you have said why it was utterly inappropriate for you to use the platform of a Pac hearing in this way.” He suggested that many professionals were “in despair at the lack of understanding and cheap haranguing which characterise your manner” after a series of hearings at which Hodge has led fierce interrogations of senior business figures and others.
  • (13) Much of the research dealing with linguistic dimensions in stuttering has emphasized the various aspects of grammar, particularly as these aspects contribute to the meaning of utterances.
  • (14) That's completely and utterly grotesque and, no matter how proud we all are in the labour movement that the minimum wage exists, not a single day goes by that we shouldn't be disgusted with ourselves for that.
  • (15) The changes in Parkinsonian subjects of the cross-sectional area during the utterance of sustained sounds are attributed to both Parkinsonian tremor and rigidity.
  • (16) Too distressed to utter more than a single word - "Devastated" - in the immediate aftermath of her withdrawal, a pale and red-eyed Radcliffe emerged yesterday to give her version of the events that ended the attempt to crown her career with a gold medal.
  • (17) Informed sources in Germany said Merkel was livid about the reports that the NSA had bugged her phone and was convinced, on the basis of a German intelligence investigation, that the reports were utterly substantiated.
  • (18) | Hugh Muir Read more Wherever Labour people gather to discuss how to break out of the vice tightening around the party, answers fail amid sighs of utter despair.
  • (19) The IFS says similar declines emerge if you set the figure as low as 40% of median income – utterly refuting Nick Clegg's toxic line dismissing the threshold as just "poverty plus a pound" .
  • (20) "Public sector workers and their families are utterly shocked by Jeremy Clarkson's revolting comments.