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hardly
- 4 dictionary resultshard⋅ly
[hahrd-lee] 
li
–adverb
| 1. | only just; almost not; barely: We had hardly reached the lake when it started raining. hardly any; hardly ever. |
| 2. | not at all; scarcely: That report is hardly surprising. |
| 3. | with little likelihood: He will hardly come now. |
| 4. | forcefully or vigorously. |
| 5. | with pain or difficulty. |
| 6. | British. harshly or severely. |
| 7. | hard. |
Synonyms:
1. Hardly, barely, scarcely imply a narrow margin by which performance was, is, or will be achieved. Hardly, though often interchangeable with scarcely and barely, usually emphasizes the idea of the difficulty involved: We could hardly endure the winter. Barely emphasizes the narrowness of the margin of safety, “only just and no more”: We barely succeeded. Scarcely implies a very narrow margin, below satisfactory performance: He can scarcely read.
1. Hardly, barely, scarcely imply a narrow margin by which performance was, is, or will be achieved. Hardly, though often interchangeable with scarcely and barely, usually emphasizes the idea of the difficulty involved: We could hardly endure the winter. Barely emphasizes the narrowness of the margin of safety, “only just and no more”: We barely succeeded. Scarcely implies a very narrow margin, below satisfactory performance: He can scarcely read.
Usage note:
1, 3. Hardly, barely, and scarcely all have a negative connotation, and the use of any of them with a negative like can't or couldn't is often condemned as a double negative and thus considered nonstandard: I can't hardly wait. Such constructions do occur occasionally in the speech of educated persons, often with jocular intent (You can't hardly get that kind any more) but are not found in formal speech or writing. When hardly in the sense “only just, almost not” is followed by a clause, the usual word to introduce the clause is when: The telephone had hardly stopped ringing when (not than) the doorbell rang. See also double negative.
1, 3. Hardly, barely, and scarcely all have a negative connotation, and the use of any of them with a negative like can't or couldn't is often condemned as a double negative and thus considered nonstandard: I can't hardly wait. Such constructions do occur occasionally in the speech of educated persons, often with jocular intent (You can't hardly get that kind any more) but are not found in formal speech or writing. When hardly in the sense “only just, almost not” is followed by a clause, the usual word to introduce the clause is when: The telephone had hardly stopped ringing when (not than) the doorbell rang. See also double negative.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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|
Link To hardly
| hard·ly (härd'lē) adv.
[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. |
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Cite This Source
Hardly
Hard"ly\, adv. [AS. heardlice. See Hand.]1. In a hard or difficult manner; with difficulty. Recovering hardly what he lost before. --Dryden. 2. Unwillingly; grudgingly. The House of Peers gave so hardly thei? consent. --Milton. 3. Scarcely; barely; not guite; not wholly. Hardly shall you one so bad, but he desires the credit of being thought good. --South. 4. Severely; harshly; roughly. He has in many things been hardly used. --Swift. 5. Confidently; hardily. [Obs.] --Holland. 6. Certainly; surely; indeed. [Obs.] --Chaucer.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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Language Translation for : hardly
Spanish:
apenas,
German:
kaum,
Japanese:
ほとんど～しない
hardly
c.1205, "in a hard manner, with energy and force," from hard (q.v.). Main modern sense of "barely, just" (1553) reverses this, via the intermediate meaning "not easily, with trouble." Formerly with superficial negative (not hardly).
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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