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sheer
used in The Return of the King

2 meanings, 14 uses
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1  —1 use as in:
sheer fun
Definition
complete or pure — without restriction,  qualification, or other elements (used for emphasis)
  • And when Sam heard that he laughed aloud for sheer delight,
    6.4 — Book 6 Chapter 4 — The Field of Cormallen (66% in)
sheer = complete — without restriction
There are no more uses of "sheer" flagged with this meaning in The Return of the King.

Typical Usage  (best examples)
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2  —1 use as in:
a sheer cliff
Definition
so steep it is almost vertical
  • ...and beyond, going steeply down, was a road between sheer cliffs, knife-edged against the sky far above.
    5.2 — Book 5 Chapter 2 — The Passing of the Grey Company (87% in)
sheer = so steep as to be almost vertical
There are no more uses of "sheer" flagged with this meaning in The Return of the King.

Typical Usage  (best examples)
Dictionary / pronunciation — Google®Dictionary list — Onelook.com®
?  —12 uses
exact meaning not specified
  • They had reached the Mountain's foot on its northern side, and a little to the westward; there its long grey slopes, though broken, were not sheer.
    6.3 — Book 6 Chapter 3 — Mount Doom (55% in)
  • Up it rose, even to the level of the topmost circle, and there was crowned by a battlement; so that those in the Citadel might, like mariners in a mountainous ship, look from its peak sheer down upon the Gate seven hundred feet below.
    5.1 — Book 5 Chapter 1 — Minas Tirith (20% in)
  • And so they came at last deep into the glen; and there stood a sheer wall of rock, and in the wall the Dark Door gaped before them like the mouth of night.
    5.2 — Book 5 Chapter 2 — The Passing of the Grey Company (76% in)
  • The Morthond Vale made a great bay that beat up against the sheer southern faces of the mountains.
    5.2 — Book 5 Chapter 2 — The Passing of the Grey Company (91% in)
  • Upwards it wound, coiling like a snake, boring its way across the sheer slope of rock.
    5.3 — Book 5 Chapter 3 — The Muster of Rohan (25% in)
  • Its eastern face stood up in three great tiers from a shelf in the mountain-wall far below; its back was to a great cliff behind, from which it jutted out in pointed bastions, one above the other, diminishing as they rose, with sheer sides of cunning masonry that looked north-east and south-east.
    6.1 — Book 6 Chapter 1 — The Tower of Cirith Ungol (16% in)
  • There's a sheer drop over the wall.
    6.2 — Book 6 Chapter 2 — The Land of Shadow (0% in)
  • The eastern faces of the Ephel Duath were sheer, falling in cliff and precipice to the black trough that lay between them and the inner ridge.
    6.2 — Book 6 Chapter 2 — The Land of Shadow (3% in)
  • It was not a broad road, and it had no wall or parapet along the edge and as it ran on the sheer drop from its brink became deeper and deeper.
    6.2 — Book 6 Chapter 2 — The Land of Shadow (85% in)
  • He looked wildly up at the frowning wall, where the road-builders of old had cut the rock sheer for many fathoms above their heads.
    6.2 — Book 6 Chapter 2 — The Land of Shadow (87% in)
  • The Mountain crept up ever nearer, until, if they lifted their heavy heads, it filled all their sight, looming vast before them: a huge mass of ash and slag and burned stone, out of which a sheer-sided cone was raised into the clouds.
    6.3 — Book 6 Chapter 3 — Mount Doom (48% in)
  • A brief vision he had of swirling cloud, and in the midst of it towers and battlements, tall as hills, founded upon a mighty mountain-throne above immeasurable pits; great courts and dungeons, eyeless prisons sheer as cliffs, and gaping gates of steel and adamant: and then all passed.
    6.3 — Book 6 Chapter 3 — Mount Doom (95% in)

There are no more uses of "sheer" in The Return of the King.

Typical Usage  (best examples)
Dictionary / pronunciation — Google®Dictionary list — Onelook.com®