adv
hardly
HAHD-lee
adv
1
Barely; only just; almost not at all.
"I could hardly hear him over the noise."
"She had hardly started when the phone rang."
2
Used to say something is certainly not the case; surely not.
"That's hardly a fair comparison."
"He's hardly the right person to give advice on honesty."
3
With great difficulty.
"They hardly managed to finish the climb before dark."
How to Use Hardly
Learner’s notesIn plain English"Barely" or "almost not" — a soft way of saying something is nearly not true.
Common mistake
Avoid double negatives like "can't hardly" — "hardly" already carries a negative meaning, so "I can hardly wait" is correct, not "I can't hardly wait."
Common pairings
hardly ever
hardly any
hardly surprising
Word Forms
hardlier comparative, more hardly comparative, hardliest superlative, most hardly superlative
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I could _____ hear him over the noise.
Etymology
From Old English heardlīċe, built from hard + -ly; it originally meant "boldly" or "without ease" before narrowing to today's sense of "barely."