I. adjective
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES
a sheer/vertical cliff (= straight up and down rather than sloping )
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Sheer cliffs defend the island.
perfect/pure/sheer happiness (= happiness that is as good as it can be )
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The birth of my child was a moment of sheer happiness.
pure/absolute/sheer etc hell
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They described the war zone as sheer hell.
pure/absolute/sheer etc hell
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‘How was your exam?’ ‘Sheer hell!’
pure/sheer luxury (= used when you want to emphasize that something gives great comfort and pleasure )
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The blouse was satin, and felt like pure luxury.
pure/sheer spite (= spite and nothing else )
pure/sheer/complete joy (= a lot of joy, not mixed with other feelings )
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It was a moment of pure joy.
sheer boredom
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the sheer boredom of being in jail
sheer determination (= nothing except great determination )
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He had survived by sheer determination.
sheer excitement (= a very strong feeling of excitement )
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Nothing can beat driving a racing car for sheer excitement.
Sheer exhaustion
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Sheer exhaustion forced him to give up.
sheer folly
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It would be sheer folly to reduce spending on health education.
sheer lunacy
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It would be sheer lunacy to turn down a job offer like that.
sheer madness (= completely crazy )
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Cutting down the forest is sheer madness .
sheer misery (= great unhappiness, with no other emotion )
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His face was a picture of sheer misery .
sheer novelty (= used when emphaszing how new and different something seems )
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Few pieces of music can match the sheer novelty of Sibelius's Sixth Symphony.
sheer originality (= when something is very original )
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the sheer originality of his writing style
sheer pigheadedness
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It was just sheer pigheadedness on his part.
sheer...drop (= vertical )
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There was an almost sheer drop to the valley below.
sheer/pure coincidence (= complete chance )
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It was pure coincidence that we were on the same plane.
sheer/pure delight (= very great )
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She opened the present and laughed with sheer delight.
sheer/pure luck (= chance, and not skill or effort )
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She managed to catch hold of the rope by sheer luck.
sheer/pure malice
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She did it out of sheer malice.
sheer/pure pleasure
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He studied ancient languages for the sheer pleasure of learning.
sheer/pure terror (= complete and total terror )
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The horse galloped off in sheer terror down the path.
simple/plain/basic/sheer common sense (= very obviously sensible )
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Locking your doors at night is simple common sense.
the sheer scale of sth (= used for emphasis )
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He was shocked by the sheer scale of the suffering he witnessed.
the sheer size of sth (= used to emphasize that something is large )
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The sheer size of some dinosaurs is amazing.
total/sheer panic
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A wave of total panic swept across her.
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ ADVERB
just
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Everything was out in the open - political resistance, management failings and just sheer inertia.
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He says it gives him pleasure, just sheer pleasure.
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It's just sheer nervousness, I assure you.
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He clasped Joanne in his arms, not for love or lust, just sheer joy at being alive.
■ NOUN
beauty
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The sheer beauty of the handsome yard revived her.
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Now the function of the dogwood is to be found in its sheer beauty .
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Whether you are fascinated by the unusual, or enchanted by sheer beauty , there is something for everyone here.
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At that moment they reached the ruined abbey and she fell silent at its sheer beauty .
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She heard him gasp at the sheer beauty of her superb feminine body.
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But the sheer beauty and ingenuity of the animal adaptations were breathtaking and the gorgeousness of the plant life staggering.
boredom
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Often, the end of their beaks may be cut off to stop the hens pecking each other out of sheer boredom and neurosis.
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Misty rain or Sunday lunch, or sheer boredom had dispersed the spectators and Lady Street was deserted.
bulk
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In sheer bulk of biomass, organisms without brains or even without central nervous systems far outnumber those possessing these desirable features.
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Their sheer bulk in the heavy clothing made the people look like beasts.
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Nineteenth century tries to stifle doubts by crushing you with sheer bulk , he wrote.
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The sheer bulk and force of the attack knocked the guy down.
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The sheer bulk of the material makes it difficult for them to do otherwise.
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The sheer bulk of his sister's file and the fact that her husband's one was empty registered strongly on him.
chance
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It was sheer chance and not any skill at all.
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As always, we needed good information, and sometimes this came our way by sheer chance .
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I only discovered I was in it by sheer chance .
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It happens every season - by sheer chance and law of averages some of the ideas are bound to come up.
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This is sheer chance , but suggests a good average result from the use of the algorithm!
cliff
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The coastguard duties included patrolling paths at the top of high and sheer cliffs - not a job for the faint-hearted.
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The fourth side of the clearing was sheer cliff drop, attended by a barrier of split rails.
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Teetering on the sheer cliff , Tallis peered down at the river.
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But the top of Kino Peak is guarded by sheer cliffs on all sides.
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Behind the narrow sandy beach stands a sheer cliff of coral rock, seventy feet high.
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Walls of red brick rose up on his left like sheer cliffs .
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Rough hewn steps led up steeply, hugging an almost sheer cliff face.
coincidence
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By sheer coincidence Kappa Crucis lies at the edge of the dark nebula known as the Coal Sack.
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By sheer coincidence the three accounts mentioned had all placed significant orders just before the board meeting.
delight
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In the end, the poems must be read as expressions of sheer delight in friendship.
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It has been sheer delight for them.
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Utterly daft and unsophisticated, it elevated Allen to the very head of the children's table - and is sheer delight .
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A sheer delight A simple style and a light touch can be all you need to create a stunning window treatment.
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Imagine yourself in a beautiful garden, dancing across the lawns in sheer delight .
drop
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There was a sheer drop , half the height of a man, down to the water's surface.
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There is a wind-blown cornice of about one and a half metres overhanging a sheer drop of about eight metres.
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He'd had a short walk after the service and every path seemed to end in a cliff or a sheer drop .
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The road was overhung with rocks and the view from the driver's window was a sheer drop .
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They parked and walked to the cape where there was a terrifying sheer drop to the sea.
exhaustion
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In the end, sheer exhaustion and hunger made political questions remote for the majority.
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What had settled his son at last was sheer exhaustion , and Alan's absence.
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There was no fear of revolt in the countryside on the Volga, due to sheer exhaustion .
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Only sheer exhaustion would force Paul to stop.
folly
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Throwing them away is sheer folly .
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In part two: A slice of history.The birthday cake that was sheer folly .
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Their lack of ease with each other is tangible and to pretend otherwise is sheer folly .
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I happen to believe in miracles, but it would be sheer folly to depend on them.
force
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Yet, almost by sheer force of habit, much of the old order remains.
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What a display of grandeur and sheer force of will!
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He would pump away until he was exhausted, as though by sheer force he could inject her with fertile seed.
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For a few seconds the sheer force of the wind supported my weight before I stumbled into a lull between squalls.
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If there were any monsters with tentacles and teeth, they'd have been overwhelmed by sheer force of nome.
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Both of them seem to have decided to become novelists with teeth gritted, by sheer force of will.
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By sheer force of will she ignored the sounds of pattering and gnawing near the body in the corner.
frustration
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Corbett felt hemmed in by the sheer frustration of the task assigned him.
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But the die had been cast, in part through the power of imported ideas, in part through sheer frustration .
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Jessamy wanted to shout at him in sheer frustration .
hell
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The stairs seem like the north face of the Eiger, the temperature sheer hell .
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Or was he just trying to provoke her into an argument for the sheer hell of it?
joy
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But watching the talented wrist-spinner Mushtaq Ahmed was sheer joy .
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I felt as if I were on fire with energy and I laughed for the sheer joy of it.
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And you may shed a tear or two - for the sheer joy of it all.
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The sheer joy of having pockets and flies was something that lasted for weeks.
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The sheer joy of having me under his power, of being able to spend all and every day staring at me.
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In love meant all the colours, all the sounds, all the sights, sheer joy .
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He clasped Joanne in his arms, not for love or lust, just sheer joy at being alive.
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When they laugh it's with sheer joy .
luck
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By sheer luck I had given Reuters their biggest news scoop since the assassination of Abraham Lincoln in 1865.
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He made it through sheer luck and by attaching himself to one guy after another and then stepping over them.
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So I guessed right; sheer luck .
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She flung out her hands and caught the edge of the stone by sheer luck .
lunacy
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Does he agree that such a policy - it is, of course, Labour policy - would be sheer lunacy ?
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It seemed an act of sheer lunacy .
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And fans are in no doubt as to where bravery ends and sheer lunacy begins.
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In these conditions, to encourage mass protest over which they would have no control appeared sheer lunacy .
madness
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Clearing a rainforest in this way is sheer madness .
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Cutting down the forest is sheer madness .
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Moving from the shade to the middle of the field seemed sheer madness .
number
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Unfortunately, the Treatises tended to bore their readers through the sheer number of examples cited.
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The tendency has been to emphasize the sheer numbers and availability of more workers, the reserve army of labor.
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Even here the quality of that achievement remains more important than sheer numbers .
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By virtue of their sheer numbers on stage, Lerman said, their simple gestures will become powerful.
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A major difference between adult and adolescent reasoning capabilities is the sheer number of schemata, or structures.
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There are no reasons why all groups can't mix, except where the sheer numbers of users are dangerous.
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One reason for the abundance is the sheer number of tickets to the Games.
numbers
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Even here the quality of that achievement remains more important than sheer numbers .
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The tendency has been to emphasize the sheer numbers and availability of more workers, the reserve army of labor.
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By virtue of their sheer numbers on stage, Lerman said, their simple gestures will become powerful.
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The sheer numbers of them make it spectacular although there are no huge centrepiece fireworks.
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The sheer numbers of small businesses, always impressive, are today truly awesome.
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There are no reasons why all groups can't mix, except where the sheer numbers of users are dangerous.
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The power comes from the sheer numbers and multiple connections of so many units operating in concert.
panic
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She knew panic when she heard it, and sheer panic was in Philip Arbuthnot's voice.
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Wild speculation, low margin requirements and sheer panic triggered the free fall that set off the Great Depression.
pleasure
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In Budapest, they still strolled around for the sheer pleasure of it.
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However, more wine drinkers are consuming Pinot Noir these days, and the biggest reason is sheer pleasure .
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Dolphins have an impressive ability to imitate and learn, often apparently for the sheer pleasure of doing so.
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Far more people run or swim or kick a ball for sheer pleasure than ever before.
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He says it gives him pleasure , just sheer pleasure.
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The sheer pleasure of discovering other people's domestic arrangement stirred in her.
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The simplest relationship is the sheer pleasure of immediate consumption of an object which offers no resistance.
power
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It's difficult not to be astounded at the sheer power , scale and reach of scientific thinking.
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The velocity, the sheer power and the technology of the rocket perhaps makes all the more pitiful our meagre destiny.
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This guy consists of sheer power .
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This they accomplished through the sheer power of pent-up creativity.
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At their best, these wines rival anything produced in Bordeaux, Burgundy or the Napa Valley for complexity and sheer power .
quality
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Irrespective of grade they all have one thing in common - sheer quality .
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For sheer quality of string sound the Juilliard Quartet probably comes out on top.
quantity
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The sheer quantity of calculation and printing required for this stretches the modest administrative processor to its limit for two days.
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But more stunning than the sheer quantity of bird life is the apparent organization of these hunters of small fish.
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I was astonished by the sheer quantity of stuff in the trunk.
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The sheer quantity of matter meant that people did not read all their newspaper.
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Although they are now inactive, these old regions of continental flood basalts are impressive because of the sheer quantity of lavas involved.
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But the sheer quantity of such texts and the variety of their intended readers and hearers means that some cross-referencing is possible.
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If the sheer quantity of information about 1992 is clouding your vision, look no further for the silver lining.
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I must take account of the quality of representations as well as the sheer quantity .
rock
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The path down to the beach was a precarious one, tiny steps hewn out of the sheer rock face.
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Seeing those lofty settlements atop the sheer rocks fires the imagination.
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Below the bushes lay a ledge and then a sheer rock face plunging forty feet to the clay-reddened lake.
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Before long, Knocknarea towered over me in escarpments of sheer rock , with grassland visible high in the sky.
scale
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It was not until daylight broke that the sheer scale of the devastation could be seen.
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Anyone wishing to tackle crime rates must pay enormous attention to youth crime because of its sheer scale .
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Its sheer scale means that it is important at this stage not to be distracted by companies making misleading ethical claims.
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The sheer scale of the service sector has made it the focus for attack by the proponents of the de-industrialisation thesis.
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Sometimes the sheer scale of the horror may demand action.
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A bigger one is sheer scale .
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This, and the sheer scale of the parks, is what strikes the first-time visitor.
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But the sheer scale of corruption could well bring them on to the streets again.
size
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The last cushion the big studios can rely on is sheer size .
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The problem was their sheer size .
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I grow bored with the sheer size of the glass and have to force myself to continue, he wrote.
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The sheer size of the sanctuary represented Mount Meru, the mythical Olympus on which the gods were believed to live.
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One of the difficulties is the sheer size of the family.
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The sheer size of the pancakes is truly astounding.
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He was slightly taken aback by the sheer size of the girl.
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You practically needed a stepladder to get their autographs, and their sheer size and strength was intimidating and overwhelming.
spite
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They wanted to peck you all over, out of sheer spite .
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Or were they keeping me here out of sheer spite ?
terror
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Elizabeth: One of sheer terror .
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The shoes spoke of moments of sheer terror .
variety
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Addison has high praise for the sheer variety of characterisation.
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It is the sheer variety of its manifestations that makes hypochondria such an interesting complaint.
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Henceforth, the sheer variety of his cartographic output was impressive.
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The sheer variety of current systems is phenomenal and it is a full time job just keeping pace with developments.
volume
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The sheer volume of insignia required for public services means that insignia can be given only the appearance of precious metals.
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The sheer volume of it suffocated every good intention.
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In any event the sheer volume and variety of bodies under departmental sponsorship often makes ministerial responsibility something of a myth.
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Most bankers say that the sheer volume of checks means that most banks only spot-check signatures.
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Aim to increase the proportion of carbohydrates in your diet rather than the sheer volume .
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It is not only sheer volume but the nature of the noise that arouses sleepers.
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The sheer volume of recommendations from the Task Force ensured that there was potentially something for everyone108.
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In contemplating the lair of Ed and Klara Durbeck, the temptation is to gape at the sheer volume of the contents.
weight
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Due to its sheer weight it can only be used at the Centre by special permission of the Department of Transport.
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The intensity of the introductions made me tremble, overtaken by the sheer weight of their status.
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Ari was exhausted by the sheer weight of first impressions of the city.
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He forced though - even if going back: the sheer weight of his blows - Anton down on his hands and knees.
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In terms of money, grass-roots organization, blocking power and sheer weight , the Democrats and Republicans rule supreme.
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In the case of a particularly large breed this is perhaps understandable, because of the sheer weight .
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The sheer weight of goodwill fax messages told them of this fact.
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The sheer weight of dicta amassed was intimidating, but Mr. Ashworth conceded he could find no authority actually binding on me.
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
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sheer curtains
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I stood at the edge of the old chalk quarry, with a sheer drop of ten or twenty metres below me.
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The coastguard patrols paths at the top of high and sheer cliffs.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
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For sheer cleverness she could run rings around them all.
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For the rest of the programme was sheer hagiography.
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Immense and sheer , the mountains emerge from a fog of silk.
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Teetering on the sheer cliff, Tallis peered down at the river.
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Tennis courts lit pointlessly except to inform the driver of the sheer dimension of the leisure complex burst into life.
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The coastguard duties included patrolling paths at the top of high and sheer cliffs - not a job for the faint-hearted.
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What he lacked in aesthetic grace Bob Willis made up in speed, determination and sheer guts.
II. adverb
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
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On their left it sloped gently away and on the right it fell sheer , in steep crags.
III. verb
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ ADVERB
off
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I checked the needles more thoroughly and discovered that the very tip of the latch of a needle was sheered off .
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
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Finally on the fourth day one of the anchor ropes sheered through and we lost that anchor to the gale.
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I checked the needles more thoroughly and discovered that the very tip of the latch of a needle was sheered off.
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Rimmed by a waist-high balustrade, the garden sheers down some twenty feet.