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
Used in a Sentence
hardly
How to use hardly in a sentence. Example sentences and definitions for hardly.
Editorial note
The price of gold might have remained constant, but that's hardly the binding factor here.
Examples11
Definitions2
Parts of speech1
Quick take
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
Meaning at a glance
The clearest senses and uses of hardly gathered in one view.
almost not; "he hardly ever goes fishing"; "he was hardly more than sixteen years old"; "they scarcely ever used the emergency generator"
Definitions
Core meanings and parts of speech for hardly.
adverb
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
adverb
almost not; "he hardly ever goes fishing"; "he was hardly more than sixteen years old"; "they scarcely ever used the emergency generator"
See also: scarcely
Example sentences
The price of gold might have remained constant, but that's hardly the binding factor here.
But it's hardly, to use the breathless headline, devastating.
Everything is shared because in a city of 15-20 million people, there's hardly any space apart.
It certainly isn't some sort of paradigm shift, and it's hardly an indication that "no one knows what the audience wants.
Whatever else this system does, it hardly promotes true innovation.
In the 1950s, there was the great promise of "the leisure society" - a future of such material abundance that most people would hardly need to work.
Still, the compiler performance in Scala is perhaps my chief criticism, though hardly a show-stopper.
It is an impressive proof-of-concept for decentralized trust in cryptosystems, but it is hardly a currency.
What the hell I consider driving a car to work to be hardly justifiable at all in our trade, but a 31 year old fire truck is sending a giant fuck you to anyone else trying to reduce their carbon emissions.
Its shortcomings, particularly around string handling, have been responsible for an appalling fraction of the security holes of the past forty years.- C's tooling is hardly something to brag about, especially compared to its contemporaries like Smalltalk and Lisp.
That they're being asked to follow those rules is hardly government bullying - in the eyes of most everyone here that definitely counts as "consumer protection".It doesn't get better when they start spouting complete lies - the gibberish about certain unmarked taxi like services being exclusive to "royal families or prominent business leaders".
Frequently asked questions
Short answers drawn from the clearest meanings and examples for this word.
How do you use hardly in a sentence?
The price of gold might have remained constant, but that's hardly the binding factor here.
What does hardly mean?
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
What part of speech is hardly?
hardly is commonly used as adverb.