scarcely

scarce·ly

 (skârs′lē)

adv.

1. By a small margin; barely: We scarcely made it in time.

2. Almost not; hardly: We scarcely ever used the reserve generator.

3. Certainly not: They could scarcely complain after such good treatment.

Usage Note: Scarcely has the force of a negative and is therefore regarded as incorrectly used with another negative, as in I couldn't scarcely believe it. · A clause following scarcely is properly introduced by when or before; the use of than is usually changed by copyeditors: The meeting had scarcely begun when (or before but not than) it was interrupted. See Usage Notes at double negative, hardly.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

scarcely

(ˈskɛəslɪ)

adv

1. hardly at all; only just

2. often ironic probably not or definitely not: that is scarcely justification for your actions.

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

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

scarce•ly

(ˈskɛərs li)

adv.

1. barely; not quite: We can scarcely see.

2. definitely not: This is scarcely the time to raise such questions.

3. probably not: You could scarcely have chosen better.

[1250–1300]

syn: See hardly.

usage: See hardly.

Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary, © 2010 K Dictionaries Ltd. Copyright 2005, 1997, 1991 by Random House, Inc. All rights reserved.

scarce

– scarcely

Both scarce and scarcely are fairly formal words. They have completely different meanings.

1. 'scarce'

Scarce is an adjective. If something is scarce, very little of it is available.

Good quality land is scarce.

The desert is a place where water is scarce.

2. 'rare'

Don't use 'scarce' to say that something is not common, and is therefore interesting. Use rare.

This flower is so rare that few botanists have ever seen it.

Deepak's hobby is collecting rare books.

3. 'scarcely'

Scarcely is an adverb that means the same as 'hardly'. If something is scarcely true, it is almost not true. If something scarcely exists, it almost does not exist.

The smell was so bad I could scarcely bear it.

The woman was scarcely able to walk.

Be Careful!
Don't use 'not' with scarcely. Don't say, for example, 'I do not scarcely have enough money to live'. Say 'I scarcely have enough money to live'.

If you use an auxiliary verb or modal with scarcely, put the auxiliary verb or modal first. Say, for example, 'I could scarcely stand'. Don't say 'I scarcely could stand'.

I can scarcely remember what we ate.

He could scarcely be blamed for his reaction.

Scarcely is sometimes used to emphasize that one thing happened immediately after another.

We had scarcely arrived when it was time to leave again.

Be Careful!
Use when, not 'than', in sentences like these. Don't say, for example, 'We had scarcely arrived than it was time to leave again'.

In literary writing, scarcely is sometimes put at the beginning of a sentence, followed by had or the verb be and the subject.

Scarcely had she put down the receiver when the phone rang again.

Scarcely were the words spoken when he began to regret them.

Collins COBUILD English Usage © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 2004, 2011, 2012

Thesaurus

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

Based on WordNet 3.0, Farlex clipart collection. © 2003-2012 Princeton University, Farlex Inc.

scarcely

adverb

1. hardly, barely, only just, scarce (archaic), almost not He could scarcely breathe.

2. (Often used ironically) by no means, hardly, not at all, definitely not, under no circumstances, on no account It can scarcely be coincidence.

3. rarely, seldom, not often, infrequently, occasionally, once in a blue moon (informal), hardly ever I scarcely ever re-read my published writings.

Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002

scarcely

adverb

By a very little; almost not:

barely, hardly, just, scarce.

The American Heritage® Roget's Thesaurus. Copyright © 2013, 2014 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Translations

باِلْكَادبالكاد، بِصُعوبَهبصورَةٍ غَيْر مَعْقولَه

sotvastěží

knapknaptnæppe

kaumwohl kaumamperdünn

μετά βίας

apenasdifícilmente

hädin tuskin

à peinerarement

jedva

bajosan

naumlegavarla

a faticaa malapenaappenascarsamente

ほとんど･･･ない

겨우

vix

nauwelijksamper

knapt

ledwo

dificilmentemal

едва

komaj

knappast

อย่างไม่พอเพียง

daha ...-mıştı kidenemezherhalde ... değilnadiren

vỏn vẹn

几乎不实在不应该

scarcely

[ˈskɛəslɪ] ADV (= barely) → apenas
scarcely anybody → casi nadie
I can scarcely believe it → apenas puedo creerlo → casi no puedo creerlo
scarcely ever → casi nunca
I scarcely know what to say → no sé qué puedo decir
he was scarcely more than a boy → era apenas un niño
we could scarcely refuse → ¿cómo podíamos negarnos? → difícilmente podíamos negarnos
it is scarcely surprising that → no es ni mucho menos sorprendente que ...
he's scarcely what you'd call a cordon bleu chef (iro) → no es precisamente un maestro de la cocina
the car had scarcely drawn to a halt when → apenas se había parado el coche cuando ...

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

scarcely

[ˈskɛə^rsli] adv

(= barely, only just) → à peine
I scarcely knew him → Je le connaissais à peine.
I can scarcely believe it → J'arrive à peine à le croire.
scarcely anybody → pratiquement personne

(= hardly) → guère
He was scarcely more than a child → Il n'était guère plus qu'un enfant.
He could scarcely have had more difficult opponents → Il n'aurait guère pu trouver des adversaires plus difficiles.
The defender's first two goals since arriving from Caen could scarcely have been better timed → Les deux premiers buts que le défenseur a inscrits depuis son arrivée de Caen n'auraient guère pu tomber mieux.

Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

scarcely

adv

→ kaum; scarcely anybody → kaum einer or jemand; scarcely anything → fast or beinahe nichts; scarcely ever → kaum jemals, fast or beinahe nie; with scarcely a sound → fast lautlos; I scarcely know what to say → ich weiß nicht recht, was ich sagen soll; scarcely had the car drawn to a halt when … → das Auto war kaum zum Stehen gekommen, als …

(= not really) → wohl kaum; you can scarcely expect him to believe that → Sie erwarten doch wohl nicht or kaum, dass er das glaubt; he’s scarcely the most polite of men → er ist nicht gerade or er ist wohl kaum der Höflichste

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

scarcely

[ˈskɛəslɪ] adv (barely) → appena
scarcely anybody → quasi nessuno
scarcely ever → quasi mai
I scarcely know what to say → non so proprio che dire
I can scarcely believe it → faccio fatica a crederci
I've scarcely seen him → l'ho visto raramente

Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995

scarce

(skeəs) adjective

not many or enough in number. Paintings by this artist are very scarce; Food is scarce because of the drought. skaars نادِر، غَيْر مُتَوَفِّر недостатъчен raro vzácný, omezený knapp sjælden; knap λιγοστός, σπάνιοςescaso, poco común/frecuente haruldane, vähe نادر harvalukuinen rareנדיר दुर्लभ oskudan, rijedak kevés; ritka sedikit sjaldgæfur; af skornum skammti raro 少ない 불충분한 negausus, nepakankamas rets; nepietiekams sukar didapati schaarssjelden; knapp, snau rzadki, niewystarczający لږ، كم، نادر، كم پيدا، raro rar редкий; скудный vzácny, obmedzený redek oskudan otillräcklig, knapp, sällsynt ไม่มาก; ไม่พอ kıt, az 罕見的，少之又少的 убогий, недостатній قلیل، ناکافی khan hiếm 罕见的，缺乏的

ˈscarcely adverb

1. only just; not quite. Speak louder please – I can scarcely hear you; scarcely enough money to live on. skaars بالكاد، بِصُعوبَه едва mal stěží, sotva kaum knapt; utilstrækkeligt μόλις, σχεδόν καθόλου apenas vaevalt حيلي كم vaivoin à peineבקושי नहीं के बराबर, बहुत ही कम rijetko, jedva alig tidak cukup naumlega appena, a malapena ほとんど～ない 겨우 vos tik tikko; gandrīz tidak berapa nauwelijks nesten ikke, knaptledwo په لږوالى، په كمه توګه ، په نادره توګه،په مشكله mal abia едва; почти не sotva komaj jedva knappt แทบจะไม่ ... denemez, daha (henüz) ...-mıştı ki 幾乎不，幾乎沒有 ледве بمشکل، بہت کم chỉ vừa mới 几乎不

2. used to suggest that something is unreasonable. You can scarcely expect me to work when I'm ill. skaars بصورَةٍ غَيْر مَعْقولَه едва ли não me parece que sotva wohl kaum næppe δύσκολα ¡no esperarás/esperará...! vaevalt كمياب tuskin sûrement כְּלָל וּכלָל לא अभी अभ��, शायद ही teško bajosan tidak mungkin varla a malapena とても～ない 거 (~) 아니다 vargiai diezvai tidak patut nauwelijks neppe, knapt nie bardzo, chyba nie په لږوالى não me parece que... cu greu едва ли, вряд ли ťažko težko teško knappast, näppeligen, inte gärna ไม่ค่อย; แทบไม่ได้ herhalde ... değil 怎麼可以(用來指出無理的事) навряд чи بالکل نہیں chắc chắn là không 实在不应该

ˈscarcity noun

(a) lack or shortage. a scarcity of work/jobs; times of scarcity. skaarsheid نُدْرَه недостиг escassez nedostatek die Knappheit knaphed έλλειψηescasez nappus, puudus كميابي puute raretéמחסור कमी, अभाव, विरलता nestašica hiány kekurangan skortur scarsità, penuria 不足 결핍 stygius retums; nepietiekamība; trūkums kekurangan schaarste mangel , knapphet; dyrtidbrak, niedobór لږوالى، كمى escassez raritate недостаток, дефицит nedostatok pomanjkanje oskudnost brist, knapphet, sällsynthet ความขาดแคลน kıtlık 缺乏 недостача, нестача قلت، کمی sự khan hiếm 缺乏

make oneself scarce

to run away or stay away, especially in order to avoid trouble. As soon as the police arrived, he made himself scarce. jou skaars maak يَتَوارى، يَغيب عن الأعْيُن изпарявам се escafeder-se zmizet sich dünn machen gøre sig usynlig; stikke af γίνομαι άφαντος largarse, esfumarse kõrvale hoidma جيم شدن pysytellä piilossa s'esquiver לְהֵיעָלֵם भाग जाना, चंपत हो जाना pobjeći, nestati elillan, lelép menyingkir láta ekki sjá sig, láta sig hverfa andarsene, rendersi irreperibile 引っ込んでいる 슬쩍 (살금살금) 떠나다 dingti, išnykti pazust; aizmukt angkat kaki zich uit de voeten makenstikke av; holde seg bortezniknąć تښتيدل escafeder-se a o şterge улизнуть, испариться zmiznúť pobrisati jo izgubiti se smita, dunsta [av] เลี่ยง; ปลีกตัว tüymek, sıvışmak (尤指為避開麻煩)溜走，置身事外 ретируватися; не потрапляти на очі چپکے سے غائب ہو جانا tránh người khác 溜走

Kernerman English Multilingual Dictionary © 2006-2013 K Dictionaries Ltd.

scarcely

→ باِلْكَاد stěží knap kaum μετά βίας apenas hädin tuskin rarement jedva scarsamente ほとんど･･･ない 겨우 nauwelijks knapt ledwo mal едва knappast อย่างไม่พอเพียง nadiren vỏn vẹn 几乎不

Multilingual Translator © HarperCollins Publishers 2009