hardly

[ hahrd-lee ]

See synonyms for hardly on Thesaurus.com

adverb

only just; almost not; barely: We had hardly reached the lake when it started raining. hardly any; hardly ever.
not at all; scarcely: That report is hardly surprising.

with little likelihood: He will hardly come now.
forcefully or vigorously.
with pain or difficulty.
British. harshly or severely.
hard.

Origin of hardly

1175–1225; Middle English; Old English heardlice.See hard, -ly

synonym study For hardly

1. Hardly, barely, scarcely imply a narrow margin by which performance was, is, or will be achieved. Hardly, though often interchangeable with scarcely and barely, usually emphasizes the idea of the difficulty involved: We could hardly endure the winter. Barely emphasizes the narrowness of the margin of safety, “only just and no more”: We barely succeeded. Scarcely implies a very narrow margin, below satisfactory performance: He can scarcely read.

usage note For hardly

1, 3. Hardly, barely, and scarcely all have a negative connotation, and the use of any of them with a negative like can't or couldn't is often condemned as a double negative and thus considered nonstandard: I can't hardly wait. Such constructions do occur occasionally in the speech of educated persons, often with jocular intent ( You can't hardly get that kind any more ) but are not found in formal speech or writing. When hardly in the sense “only just, almost not” is followed by a clause, the usual word to introduce the clause is when: The telephone had hardly stopped ringing when (not than ) the doorbell rang. See also double negative.

Words that may be confused with hardly

barely, hardly , scarcely (see synonym study at the current entry)

Words Nearby hardly

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use hardly in a sentence

This is hardly the first example of such a thing, as I detailed earlier this week.
The Trump administration’s politicization of coronavirus comes to a head | Aaron Blake | September 16, 2020 | Washington Post
The bookmakers didn’t give Dallas much of a chance to win the Stanley Cup because Dallas hardly proved it was good enough to qualify for the playoffs, let alone win once it got there.
Teams Don’t Win The Stanley Cup With A Goal Deficit. Can The Dallas Stars Change That? | Terrence Doyle | September 16, 2020 | FiveThirtyEight
Protesters took over roughly a six-block area in Seattle — hardly a “big chunk” or 20 percent.
Trump’s ABC News town hall: Four Pinocchios, over and over again | Glenn Kessler | September 16, 2020 | Washington Post
He Jiankui, the disgraced scientist behind the CRISPR babies experiment, was hardly coy about his plans.
A CRISPR Baby Future? New Report Outlines Path to Human Germline Editing | Shelly Fan | September 15, 2020 | Singularity Hub
Checking your website page by page is hardly practical, so you can use Google Search Console to check all your pages at once.
8 major Google ranking factors — SEO guide | Sponsored Content: SEO PowerSuite | September 15, 2020 | Search Engine Land

The gunman hardly broke stride as he nonetheless shot Merabet in the head, killing him.
The Muslim Cop Killed by Terrorists | Michael Daly | January 9, 2015 | THE DAILY BEAST
This is especially striking, though hardly surprising, in the case of Priebus, Mr. Outreach.
Today’s GOP: Still Cool With Racist Pandering? | Michael Tomasky | January 7, 2015 | THE DAILY BEAST
But locals there say any money deposited is thrown into an unlocked cupboard behind the tellers, hardly inspiring confidence.
ISIS’s Futile Quest to Go Legit | Jamie Dettmer | January 5, 2015 | THE DAILY BEAST
I was already over forty, had hardly a nickel in my pocket and this was the biggest break in my life.
The Story Behind Lee Marvin’s Liberty Valance Smile | Robert Ward | January 3, 2015 | THE DAILY BEAST
The grim instability of shelter life is hardly a recipe for success under the best of circumstances.
His First Day Out Of Jail After 40 Years: Adjusting To Life Outside | Justin Rohrlich | January 3, 2015 | THE DAILY BEAST
Here is a chair, Monsieur Arden; but you can hardly see it until your eyes have grown a little accustomed to our crpuscula.
Checkmate | Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu
The doors (Indian bungalows have hardly any windows, each door being half glass) were open front and back.
The Red Year | Louis Tracy
You see, I am the city undertaker, and the people are dying here so fast, that I can hardly supply the demand for coffins.
The Book of Anecdotes and Budget of Fun; | Various
"A camp-fire would hardly flash and die out like that, Sarge," he answered thoughtfully.
Raw Gold | Bertrand W. Sinclair
Felipe was so full of impatience to continue his search, that he hardly listened to the Father's words.
Ramona | Helen Hunt Jackson

British Dictionary definitions for hardly

hardly

/ (ˈhɑːdlɪ) /

adverb

scarcely; barely: we hardly knew the family
just; only just: he could hardly hold the cup

often ironic almost or probably not or not at all: he will hardly incriminate himself
with difficulty or effort
rare harshly or cruelly

usage For hardly

Since hardly, scarcely, and barely already have negative force, it is redundant to use another negative in the same clause: he had hardly had (not he hadn't hardly had) time to think; there was scarcely any (not scarcely no) bread left

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

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