hardly
American Heritage Dictionary:
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hard·ly
(härd'lē) 
adv.
adv.
- Barely; just.
- To almost no degree; almost not: I could hardly hear the speaker.
- Probably or almost surely not: "Easily was a man made an infidel, but hardly might he be converted to another faith" (T.E. Lawrence).
- With severity; harshly.
- With great difficulty; painfully.
[Middle English hardli, from Old English heardlīce, harshly, bravely, from heard, hard. See hard.]
USAGE NOTE In Standard English, hardly, scarcely, and similar adverbs cannot be used with a negative. The sentence I couldn't hardly see him, for instance, is not acceptable. This violation of the double negative rule is curious because these adverbs are not truly negative in meaning. The sentence Mary hardly laughed means that Mary did laugh a little, not that she kept from laughing altogether, and therefore does not express a negative proposition. But adverbs like hardly and scarcely do share some important features of negative adverbs, even though they may not have purely negative meaning. For one thing, they combine with any and at all, which are characteristically associated with negative contexts. Thus we say I hardly saw him at all or I never saw him at all but not I occasionally saw him at all. Similiarly, we say I hardly had any time or I didn't have any time but not I had any time and so on. Like other negative adverbs, hardly triggers inversion of the subject and auxiliary verb when it begins a sentence. Thus we say Hardly had I arrived when she left on the pattern of Never have I read such a book or At no time has he condemned the movement. Other adverbs do not cause this kind of inversion. We would not say Occasionally has he addressed this question or To a slight degree have they changed their position. The fact is that adverbs such as hardly can be said to have a negative meaning in that they minimize the state or event they describe. Thus hardly means "almost not at all"; rarely means "practically never"; and so forth. This is why they cannot be used with another negative such as not or none. See Usage Notes at double negative, rarely, scarcely.
Roget's Thesaurus:
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hardly
Word Tutor:
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hardly
IN BRIEF: Almost not.
I hardly ever eat at that restaurant.
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categories related to 'hardly'
See crossword solutions for the clue Translations:
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Hardly
Dansk (Danish)
adv. - næppe, næsten ikke, knap
idioms:
- hardly any næsten ikke noget
- hardly anyone næsten ingen
- hardly ever næsten aldrig
Nederlands (Dutch)
nauwelijks, amper, met moeite, bezwaarlijk, hard, ruw
Français (French)
adv. - à peine, presque pas, difficilement, pratiquement, péniblement
idioms:
- hardly any presque rien
- hardly anyone presque personne
- hardly ever presque jamais
idioms:
- hardly any kaum
- hardly anyone kaum jemand
- hardly ever so gut wie nie
Ελληνική (Greek)
adv. - μόλις, μετά βίας/δυσκολίας, σχεδόν καθόλου
idioms:
- hardly any σχεδόν καθόλου, σχεδόν κανένας
- hardly anyone σχεδόν κανένας
- hardly ever σχεδόν ποτέ
Italiano (Italian)
quasi, appena, difficilmente, duramente
idioms:
- hardly any quasi nessun
- hardly anyone quasi nessuno
- hardly ever quasi mai
Português (Portuguese)
adv. - dificilmente
idioms:
- hardly any quase nenhum
- hardly anyone quase ninguém
- hardly ever quase nunca
Русский (Russian)
едва, вряд ли, твердо, резко, сурово
idioms:
- hardly any едва ли что-л.
- hardly anyone едва ли кто-либо
- hardly ever очень редко
Español (Spanish)
adv. - casi, apenas, difícilmente, duramente
idioms:
- hardly any casi ninguno
- hardly anyone casi nadie
- hardly ever casi nunca
Svenska (Swedish)
adv. - knappast, med möda
中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
刚刚, 勉强是, 几乎不
idioms:
- hardly any 几乎没有
- hardly anyone 简直没人
- hardly ever 很少有
中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
adv. - 剛剛, 勉強是, 幾乎不
idioms:
- hardly any 幾乎沒有
- hardly anyone 簡直沒人
- hardly ever 很少有
한국어 (Korean)
adv. - 거의~아니다, 조금도~않다, 심하게, 열심히
日本語 (Japanese)
adv. - ほとんど…ない, まず…ない, とても…しそうもない, 厳しく
idioms:
- can hardly wait 待ち遠しい
- hardly any ほとんどない
- hardly anyone ほとんど誰もいない
- hardly ever ほとんど…ない
العربيه (Arabic)
(ظرف) بقوة, بقسوة, بصعوبه, بجهد, بشق النفس, بالكاد, نادرا ما, قليلا ما
עברית (Hebrew)
adv. - בקושי, כמעט שלא, כלל לא, בלתי-הגיוני, כמעט
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