The phrase "amounted to mere" is correct and usable in written English.
It can be used to indicate that something is insignificant or trivial in comparison to something else.
Example: "The efforts they made amounted to mere gestures, lacking any real impact on the situation."
Alternatives: "reduced to nothing more than" or "equated to little more than".
The display could have amounted to mere novelty, had the ensemble not delivered the goods musically.
But in their defence, Top Gear's programme makers claimed they thought the term amounted to "mere slang".
What role do ethnic minorities play in Iran? George Fuller Vancouver, British Columbia Iran is not Iraq, or former Yugoslavia, where elections often amounted to mere census-taking as people voted along ethnic or sectarian lines.
Kevin Pietersen passed his first test in his "reintegration" process with no alarms yesterday with his team-mates claiming his return to England colours against India A in Mumbai for the team's first tour match amounted to mere "business as usual".
The United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit said that even if the school district had a "compelling" interest in preserving racial diversity -- a question the appeals court did not decide -- it could not achieve that goal through a policy that amounted to "mere racial balancing in a pure form".
So-called book value often amounted to mere pennies on the dollar.
Between them their screen time amounts to mere minutes.
The accommodation amounts to mere "accounting manoeuvers," charges Russell Moore of the Southern Baptist Convention.
(A computer-keystroke-monitoring device, used for espionage in another current thriller, "Paranoia," amounts to mere child's play here).
In that respect, the recent bank "stress tests" amount to mere window-dressing because, unlike the Fed/FDIC regulatory framework, the ECB is only empowered to supervise financial institutions, not to resolve failed banks.
Boycotting the boycotters The bloody stalemate persists The militias' writ Borderland bogeymen The centre holds, but only just Wedding crashers ReprintsThe organisers argue that the pressure amounts to mere political correctness.
