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scarcely

[skairs-lee]

Example Sentences

adverb

barely; hardly; not quite: The light is so dim we can scarcely see.

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

probably not: You could scarcely have chosen better.

Origin:
1250–1300; Middle English; see scarce, -ly

Can be confused: barely, hardly, scarcely (see synonym and usage notes at hardly).

Synonyms
1. See hardly.

Usage note
1. See hardly.

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Scarcely is always a great word to know.

So is lollapalooza. Does it mean:

an extraordinary or unusual thing, person, or event; an exceptional example or instance.

a fool or simpleton; ninny.

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Example Sentences

But there was no outpouring of fear, scarcely even a whimper.

One could scarcely imagine a subject more important than ethics for.

The future for many other lenders looks scarcely brighter.

EXPAND

But there was no outpouring of fear, scarcely even a whimper.

One could scarcely imagine a subject more important than ethics for.

The future for many other lenders looks scarcely brighter.

In those days, that number scarcely made a dent in the large grizzly population.

Perhaps that is because life without the ability to feel is scarcely imaginable.

Outnumbered by other tribes, they have risen scarcely a rung since their days as slaves a century ago.

If you want to know about the life and habitat of a woolly mammoth, there is scarcely a better place to look than in its dung.

But the way they are presenting themselves to buyers could scarcely be further apart.

The pace of new hiring crashed during the recession and has scarcely recovered since.

Until now the region had scarcely been explored because of its remoteness and depth.

Although the world of autism research is expanding, horizons for many of those with the condition have scarcely changed.

The commissions he has accepted over the decades are scarcely enough to count on the fingers of one hand.

All of which scarcely mitigates the dismal realities of the site's present darkness.

Scarcely explored as yet, her soil contains unlimited possibilities.

And scarcely has the reader time to adjust to this new picture when yet another comes along.

Scarcely a day goes past now without an announcement of job cuts.

Until now this region of the ocean had scarcely been explored because of its remoteness and depth.

That's scarcely the same as suicide, though internet speeds will be pathetic and may well make you suicidal after a time.

Had he been born in another era, he could scarcely have acted on his beliefs.

The audience was small, and it was stated that scarcely fifty of the number were frequenters of the church.

Nigeria is scarcely less poor than before its oil boom began.

Onwas himself, though he's scarcely ventured beyond the periphery of the bush, senses that profound changes are coming.

What we're getting instead is scarcely discernible from background noise figleaf.

John, crumpled into his chair at the other end of the table, looked scarcely better.

Some war stories not of this base origin, however, are scarcely less worthy the attention of the pathologist.

Although inflation is scarcely taking off, the risk of it is vexing central bankers.

Several weeks after the hurricane, this neighborhood of bungalows is still scarcely more than piles of rubble.

The electricity meter is one of those things that homeowners scarcely think about.

How many fights the present hero got into can scarcely be counted.

Scarcely any rich country has stable public finances.

He scarcely ate, and seldom interacted with another chimpanzee.

Pattinson is scarcely any better than his brother in beefcake.

The global economy can scarcely go three months without experiencing a negative shock of one sort or another.

Scarcely a decade later the first sealing vessels arrived.

It was scarcely walking to school uphill in the snow both ways, but it was different.

The advantages of being able to speak more than one tongue are so obvious that they scarcely need spelling out.

Nails aren't pounded into trees, and guides create routes that scarcely intrude upon the soaring, bromeliad-clad forest.

They have erected a house, but it is scarcely comfortable, and their families reside in the city.

The tissues involved scarcely seem to notice the loss.

But scarcely had she touched the spindle when the magic decree was fulfilled, and she pricked her finger with it.

With economic and market conditions improving, the industry can scarcely fail to benefit.

As the hours wore on, she became more and more exhausted, until she could scarcely hold up her head.

Modern physics has certainly extended human understanding in ways that would scarcely have been conceivable only a century ago.

The farmers and their works are scarcely more obvious than woodchucks and their burrows.

Voters will scarcely notice a depression that never happened.

The idea of changing jobs scarcely exists, mainly because they are so few and so precious.

Their modern counterparts still cannot create gold, but they scarcely need to.

As powerful as they are, the orbiter's main engines could scarcely budge this load.

Most economists are still cautious-a single month of better revenues is scarcely a trend.

Scarcely a corner of the city-scarcely a corner of a corner-seems to have escaped the march of improvement and redevelopment.

Though the recession ended last year, labour-market conditions have scarcely improved in much of the country.

The islands were badly oiled and littered with debris that the amphibians would scarcely be able to lumber ashore and dig pits.

Since he was the main source of the firm's profits at the time, his masters could scarcely refuse him.

She pushed it away in an irritated manner, scarcely giving me a glance.

One can scarcely open the newspaper without finding examples of smart, well.

Their views on sauropods could scarcely have been more different.

Within reasonable limits, it is scarcely possible to convey an idea of its diversified contents.

To solve the problem, engineers took inspiration from the bills of kingfishers, which can dive into water with scarcely a splash.

But it scarcely ever happens that a quarrel of this.

Astronomers scarcely even bothered to look for planets.

Still, responsible mind-control advocates could scarcely avoid presenting the potential drawbacks of their own courses of action.

It was scarcely a premiere, for the restaurant is owned by an old trouper in the businessFifty-four years.

So it was scarcely surprising that the stronger-than-expected.

Were every arable acre of land put to the usage of biofuels, it would scarcely impact the terrawatt consumption of humanity.

Eukaryotic cells with internal structures had appeared, but multicellular creatures were scarcely a blip in the census.

But gunpowder without guns is scarcely worthy of the name.

The sequencing of new genomes is now becoming so commonplace that in one sense it scarcely merits reporting.

We can even acknowledge that the perceptions of these roles as stereotypes scarcely hold water upon closer.

Just as significantly, communities have formed that could scarcely have existed before.

In person she is slightly and delicately formed, of scarcely the middle height.

The stakes in the global-warming debate, however, could scarcely be higher.

With scarcely the material for a short story in hand.

In fact, he found that there was scarcely any information on gorilla cognition at all.

Scarcely a rock can be found that does not contain some sign of gold.

It scarcely need be said that a new and larger dictionary from his hands was certain of warm and extended welcome.

When it comes to the hazards posed to the climate by greenhouse gases they see science as an ally scarcely to be questioned.

As he reached his gate the machine shot by, scarcely more than a streak of gray, so fast was it going.

Borrowing by the top quartile of homeowners ranked by their creditworthiness scarcely rose in response to rising house prices.

On the map, it is a narrow thoroughfare scarcely as.

With inflationary risks low, this scarcely explains its recent popularity.

It could scarcely have occupied his attention for more than a couple of hours.

Statutes scarcely mean anything until a body of case law builds up around them.

Samburu, by contrast, has fewer shambas and scarcely any fences.

And though much is made of the steam engine, ice scarcely merits a mention.

Sacking your top bosses while giving little clue why is scarcely a recipe to calm financial markets.

But politicians who flit between parties scarcely offer a basis on which to run a stable government.

In practice, fast-breeder reactors are scarcely worth the trouble.

Clones die in the test tube, in the womb and after birth for reasons that researchers still scarcely understand.

COLLAPSE

Collins

World English Dictionary

scarcely (ˈskɛəslɪ)

—*adv*
1.	hardly at all; only just
2.	ironic often probably not or definitely not: that is scarcely justification for your actions

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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scarcely

scarce·ly