hardlyadverb
uk/ˈhɑːd.li/us/ˈhɑːrd.li/hardly adverb (ONLY JUST)
B1 only just; almost not:
I could hardly hear her at the back.
The party had hardly started when she left.
He hardly ate anything/He ate hardly anything.
We hardly ever (= almost never) go to concerts.
Hardly had a moment passed before the door creaked open.
More examples
- It's so airless in here - I can hardly breathe.
- Hardly anyone turned up for the party.
- The instructions are printed so small I can hardly read them.
- "Where's Mikey?" "How should I know? He's hardly ever in the office these days."
- I hardly watch any television, apart from news and current affairs.
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Merely and barely
- all
- all of sth idiom
- at a pinch idiom
- barely
- but
- by a whisker idiom
- by inches idiom
- ill
- inch
- merely
- merest
- narrowly
- nothing
- nothing more than idiom
- only
- pinch
- scarcely
- whisker
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hardly adverb (CERTAINLY NOT)
B2 certainly not:
You can hardly expect a pay rise when you've only been working for the company for two weeks!
Well don't be angry with me - it's hardly my fault that it's raining!
More examples
- It's a policy that was hardly calculated to win votes.
- Her worldly success can hardly be denied.
- I had hoped for a little more from the world's greatest tenor, whose performance was workmanlike but hardly inspired.
- He had a few tufts of hair on his chin, but you could hardly call it a beard.
- It's hardly not surprising (that) you're putting on weight, considering how much you're eating.
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Yes, no & not
- absolutely
- anything
- bet
- betcha
- does a bear/do bears shit in the woods? idiom
- fear
- hear, hear! idiom
- hell
- much
- no dice idiom
- no way idiom
- noes
- not by any manner of means idiom
- not so much sth as sth idiom
- not that idiom
- perish the thought idiom
- see sb in hell before ... idiom
- think
- yea or nay idiom
- yes
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