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hardly - Meaning and Examples

Meaning of 'hardly' (Webster Dictionary)

1 . Hardly [ adv.]
- In a hard or difficult manner; with difficulty.
- Unwillingly; grudgingly.
- Scarcely; barely; not guite; not wholly.
- Severely; harshly; roughly.
- Confidently; hardily.
- Certainly; surely; indeed.

Meaning of 'hardly' (Princeton's WordNet)

1 . hardly [ r]
Meaning (1):
- only a very short time before
Example in sentence:
  • had scarcely rung the bell when the door flew open;
  • we hardly knew them;
  • would have scarce arrived before she would have found some excuse to leave
Meaning (2):
- almost not
Example in sentence:
  • he hardly ever goes fishing;
  • he was scarce sixteen years old;
  • I can hardly hear what she is saying;
  • she barely seemed to notice him;
  • they scarcely ever used the emergency generator;
  • we were so far back in the theater, we could barely read the subtitles
Meaning (3):
- slowly and with difficulty
Example in sentence:
  • he was so dizzy he could hardly stand up straight;
  • prejudices die hard

Nearby Words:

har monically hara-kiri harangue harangued harangueful haranguer haranguing harass harassed harasser

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