barely
Americanadverb
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only just; scarcely; no more than; almost not.
He had barely enough money to pay for the car.
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without disguise or concealment; openly.
They gave the facts to him barely.
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scantily; meagerly; sparsely.
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Archaic. merely.
adverb
-
only just; scarcely
barely enough for their needs
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informal not quite; nearly
barely old enough
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scantily; poorly
barely furnished
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archaic openly
Usage
See hardly.
Etymology
Origin of barely
First recorded before 950; Middle English; Old English bærlīce; see bare 1, -ly
Explanation
Something barely there is hardly there at all. If there are barely any leaves on the trees, then winter is right around the corner. Barely is a word meaning hardly, nearly, scarcely, or marginally. If there is barely a dusting of snow, there is hardly any snow at all. If your team barely won a game, then they came really close to losing. If you barely missed an ice cream truck, then you missed it by seconds. This is a word for near misses and close calls.
Vocabulary lists containing barely
"To Kill a Mockingbird" by Harper Lee, Chapters 26–31
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Tears of a Tiger
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Thirteen Reasons Why
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
"But that neutrality means they barely interact with their environment, making them bad at the sort of signal-switching logic that computers depend on."
From Science Daily • May 19, 2026
Khwaja Ahmad barely gets out a few words before he starts sobbing.
From BBC • May 18, 2026
For people who are risk-averse, that much cash can feel like a warm blanket, but it’s likely barely keeping up with inflation, if at all.
From MarketWatch • May 18, 2026
Higher-income motorists’ consumption barely budged that month, a departure from how they pulled back during the 2022 shock, said Maxim Pinkovskiy, an economic research adviser at the New York Fed.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 17, 2026
The ice had barely relinquished its grip on the water when I saw it moored on its side, hidden in the reeds, covered in a layer of green slime.
From "Red Flags and Butterflies" by Sheryl Azzam
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
