Search Result for "hardly": 
Wordnet 3.0

ADVERB (2)

1. only a very short time before;
- Example: "they could barely hear the speaker"
- Example: "we hardly knew them"
- Example: "just missed being hit"
- Example: "had scarcely rung the bell when the door flew open"
- Example: "would have scarce arrived before she would have found some excuse to leave"- W.B.Yeats
[syn: barely, hardly, just, scarcely, scarce]

2. almost not;
- Example: "he hardly ever goes fishing"
- Example: "he was hardly more than sixteen years old"
- Example: "they scarcely ever used the emergency generator"
[syn: hardly, scarcely]



The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Hardly \Hard"ly\ (h[aum]rd"l[y^]), adv. [AS. heardlice. See
   Hard.]
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   1. In a hard or difficult manner; with difficulty.
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            Recovering hardly what he lost before. --Dryden.
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   2. Unwillingly; grudgingly.
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            The House of Peers gave so hardly their consent.
                                                  --Milton.
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   3. Scarcely; barely; not quite; not wholly.
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            Hardly shall you find any one so bad, but he desires
            the credit of being thought good.     --South.
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   4. Severely; harshly; roughly.
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            He has in many things been hardly used. --Swift.
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   5. Confidently; hardily. [Obs.] --Holland.
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   6. Certainly; surely; indeed. [Obs.] --Chaucer.
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WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):

hardly
    adv 1: only a very short time before; "they could barely hear
           the speaker"; "we hardly knew them"; "just missed being
           hit"; "had scarcely rung the bell when the door flew
           open"; "would have scarce arrived before she would have
           found some excuse to leave"- W.B.Yeats [syn: barely,
           hardly, just, scarcely, scarce]
    2: almost not; "he hardly ever goes fishing"; "he was hardly
       more than sixteen years old"; "they scarcely ever used the
       emergency generator" [syn: hardly, scarcely]