hardly

adverb
/ˈhɑːdli/

Barely, only just, almost not.

Example

“They hardly ever watch television.”

Other meanings

Certainly not; not at all.
“I hardly think they'll come in this bad weather!”
with difficulty.

Synonyms

barely
just
scarce

Related words

I hardly even know her
I hardly know her
not hardly
working hard or hardly working

Example sentences

“Hardly had they started before it was over.”
Tatoeba · Igider · CC0
“You've hardly touched your salad.”
Tatoeba · ddnktr · CC0

Word history

From Old English "heardlīċe".

Where this comes from

This definition is adapted from “hardly” on Wiktionary, by its contributors; example sentences are from Tatoeba, credited to their authors above; related-word lists use Open English WordNet (CC BY 4.0, based on Princeton WordNet), published under CC BY-SA 4.0. This page is published under the same licence.