hardly

hard·ly  (härdl)

adv.

1. Barely; just.

2. To almost no degree; almost not: I could hardly hear the speaker.

3. Probably or almost surely not: "Easily was a man made an infidel, but hardly might he be converted to another faith" (T.E. Lawrence).

4. With severity; harshly.

5. With great difficulty; painfully.

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[Middle English hardli, from Old English heardlce, 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.

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hardly [ˈhɑːdlɪ]

adv

1. scarcely; barely we hardly knew the family

2. just; only just he could hardly hold the cup

3. Often used ironically almost or probably not or not at all he will hardly incriminate himself

4. with difficulty or effort

5. Rare harshly or cruelly

Usage: Since hardly, scarcely, and barely already have negative force, it is redundant to use another negative in the same clause: he had hardly had (not he hadn't hardly had) time to think; there was scarcely any (not scarcely no) bread left

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hard•ly (ˈhɑrd li)

adv.

1. only just; almost not; barely: hardly any; hardly ever.

2. not at all; scarcely: That report is hardly surprising.

3. with little likelihood: He will hardly come now.

4. Brit. harshly or severely.

5. hard.

[1175–1225]

syn: hardly, barely, scarcely imply a narrow margin of sufficiency. hardly usu. emphasizes the difficulty or sacrifice involved: We could hardly endure the winter. barely implies no more than the minimum, as in performance or quantity: We barely succeeded. scarcely implies an even narrower margin, usu. below a satisfactory level: He can scarcely read.

usage: hardly, barely, scarcely all have a negative connotation, and the use of any of them with a supplementary negative (I can't hardly remember) is characteristic of dialectical or informal speech rather than edited writing. See also double negative.

Thesaurus

Adv.	1.	hardly - 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 barely, scarce, scarcely, just
	2.	hardly - almost not; "he hardly ever goes fishing"; "he was hardly more than sixteen years old"; "they scarcely ever used the emergency generator" scarcely

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hardly

adverb

1. barely, only just, scarcely, just, faintly, with difficulty, infrequently, with effort, at a push (Brit. informal), almost not Nick, on the sofa, hardly slept.
barely really, more than, completely, certainly, amply, easily, fully, truly, undoubtedly, well over, by all means, abundantly, indubitably

2. only just, just, only, barely, not quite, scarcely I could hardly see the garden for the fog.

3. not at all, not, no way, by no means It's hardly surprising his ideas didn't catch on.

Translations

hardly [ˈhɑːdlɪ] ADV → apenas
I hardly know him → apenas lo conozco, casi no lo conozco
I can hardly believe it → apenas puedo creerlo → casi no puedo creerlo
I could hardly understand a word → apenas entendí palabra → no pude entender casi nada
she had hardly any money → apenas tenía dinero → no tenía casi dinero
hardly a day goes by when we don't argue → apenas pasa un día sin que discutamos
we could hardly refuse → ¿cómo podíamos negarnos?
she's hardly what you'd call a cordon bleu chef (iro) → no es precisamente or no es lo que se dice un cocinero de primera
that can hardly be true → eso difícilmente puede ser verdad
that is hardly likely → eso es poco probable
it's hardly surprising! → ¡no me extraña or sorprende!
"do you think he'll pass?" - "hardly!" → -¿crees que aprobará? -¡qué va! or ¡ni hablar!
hardly anyone → casi nadie
hardly anything → casi nada
there was hardly anywhere to go → no había casi ningún sitio donde ir
hardly ever → casi nunca

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hardly [ˈhɑː^rdli] adv

(= scarcely) → à peine
I hardly know you → Je te connais à peine.
I can hardly believe it
BUT J'ai du mal à le croire.
It's hardly the case
BUT Ce n'est guère le cas.
It's hardly surprising
BUT Ça n'a rien de surprenant.
to have hardly done sth when ...
He had hardly sat down when the door burst open.; Hardly had he sat down when the door burst open → À peine était-il assis que la porte s'ouvrit brusquement.
hardly ever → presque jamais
hardly anywhere → presque nulle part
hardly anyone → presque personne

(= harshly) → durement

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hardly

adv

(= barely) → kaum; I hardly knew him → ich kannte ihn kaum; the boy was hardly seventeen → der Junge war kaum or keine siebzehn; I could understand hardly a word → ich konnte kaum ein Wort or fast kein Wort verstehen; hardly ever → fast nie; hardly any money → fast kein Geld; it’s worth hardly anything → es ist fast nichts wert; you’ve hardly eaten anything → du hast (ja) kaum etwas gegessen; I hardly know any French → ich kann kaum Französisch or fast kein Französisch; there was hardly anywhere to go → man konnte fast nirgends hingehen; hardly a day goes by when we don’t read about murder in the newspaper → es vergeht kaum ein Tag, an dem wir nicht von Mordfällen in der Zeitung lesen; I can still hardly believe it → ich kann es immer noch kaum glauben; hardly had he uttered the words when he began laughing → er hatte die Worte kaum ausgesprochen, als er anfing zu lachen

(= certainly not) → wohl kaum; I will hardly need to remind you to be polite to your grandmother → ich muss euch wohl kaum daran erinnern, höflich zu eurer Großmutter zu sein; will she remember? — hardly! → wird sie daran denken? — bestimmt nicht!

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hardly [ˈhɑːdlɪ] adv (scarcely) → appena, a mala pena
she can hardly read → riesce a malapena a leggere
that can hardly be true → non può essere vero
I hardly know him → lo conosco appena
it's hardly the case → non è proprio il caso
I can hardly believe it → stento a crederci
I need hardly point out that ... → non c'è bisogno che io faccia notare che...
this is hardly the time → non è di sicuro il momento
hardly anyone/anything → quasi nessuno/niente
hardly ever → quasi mai
hardly anywhere → quasi da nessuna parte
hardly! → figuriamoci!, neanche per idea!

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hardly (ˈhaːdli) adverb

1. almost no, none, never etc. Hardly any small businesses are successful nowadays; I hardly ever go out. skaars, byna geen/nooit تَقْريبا لا почти никой/никога quase não, nenhum, etc. skoro kaum næsten σχεδόν καθόλου apenas vaevalt ندرتآ tuskin presque בְּקוֹשִׁי मुश्किल से jedva, gotovo nikada alig(ha), szinte semmi, soha stb. hampir tidak ada varla quasi ほとんど～しない 거의 ...아니다 beveik nei (vienas), beveik ne gandrīz nekad hampir tiada bijna nesten ingen/aldri mało (co), mało (który), prawie (nie) په كلكه توګه quase não, nenhum, etc. abia; nu prea едва (ли); почти не sotva skoraj nikoli skoro knappt, knappast, nästan ingen (inget, aldrig) แทบจะไม่ hemen hemen hiç 幾乎沒有 ледве شاید ہی کوئی hầu như không 几乎不是

2. only just; almost not. My feet are so sore, I can hardly walk; I had hardly got on my bicycle when I got a puncture. beswaarlik, skaars بالكاد، بِصُعوبَه، بِشَق النَّفْس едва mal sotva kaum næsten ikke; næppe μόλις (και μετά βίας) apenas, casi vaevalt بزحمت vaivoin à peine בְּקוֹשִי बमुश्किल jedva alig hampir tidak bisa með naumindum appena, a mala pena かろうじて～する 거의 …할 수 없다 vos tik tikko; tikko kā hampir tidak bijna, nauwelijks, amper knapt, nesten ikke, snaut ledwo د زیاړ mal abia едва, еле sotva, ledva komaj jedva knappt, knappast เกือบจะไม่ ancak, zorlukla, güçlükle 僅僅，幾乎無法 насилу نہیں کے برابر hầu như không 仅

3. probably not. He's hardly likely to forgive you after what you said about him. beswaarlik, skaars رُبَّما لا вероятно не dificilmente stěží kaum næppe μάλλον δεν difícilmente vaevalt غیر محتمل tuskin pas précisement לא संभवत: नहीं vjerojatno ne nemigen, aligha tidak mungkin tæplega difficilmente たぶん～しない 아마도 …할 것 같지 않다 vargu ar diez vai mungkin tidak onwaarschijnlijk neppe raczej nie نه په احتمال سره dificilmente puţin probabil вряд ли ťažko težko teško knappt, knappast อาจจะไม่ çok az ihtimalle, pek olası değil 幾乎不 навряд شاید نہیں khó có thể 几乎不

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hardly → بالكَاد sotva næppe kaum μετά βίας apenas tuskin à peine jedva scarsamente ほとんど･･･ない 거의 ...않다 nauwelijks knapt ledwie dificilmente едва knappast เกือบจะไม่ güçlükle hiếm khi 几乎不