English Explanatory Dictionary

hardly

English dictionary entry

Meanings

adv
  1. Barely, only just, almost not.
  2. Certainly not; not at all.
  3. With difficulty.
  4. Harshly, severely; in a hard manner.
  5. Firmly, vigorously, with strength or exertion.
intj
  1. Not really.

Pronunciation

/ˈhɑːdli/ /ˈhɑɹdli/ en-us-hardly.ogg

Word forms

hardly hardlier more hardly hardliest most hardly

Etymology

From Middle English hardely, hardliche, from Old English heardlīċe (“boldly; hardily; without ease; in a way that causes pain; not easily; only by degrees”), equivalent to hard + -ly. Compare Dutch hardelijk, German härtlich.

Synonyms

barely just only just scarcely

Derived words

I hardly even know her I hardly know her not hardly working hard or hardly working
This entry uses open data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA/GFDL). Word forms are used for search and are not indexed as separate pages.
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