Pronunciation

/ˈhɑːrdli/

Definitions

• Adverb: (degree) To a very small extent; almost not at all. For example: “She could hardly hear him over the noise.”
  • (modal) Used to indicate that something is difficult to do or happens only with great difficulty. For example: “I could hardly believe my eyes when I saw the news.”

Phrases

• “Hardly ever”: This means almost never. For example: “She hardly ever goes out on weekends.”
• “Hardly had…when”: This construction is used to describe two actions happening in quick succession, often emphasizing the immediacy of the second action after the first one. Example: “Hardly had I sat down when the phone rang.”

Example Sentences

• Adverb (degree): “The storm was so loud that we could hardly sleep last night.”
• Modal: “He had studied for weeks, but he still found the exam questions hard to answer; he could hardly understand some of them.”

Synonyms

• Barely
• Scarcely
• Virtually not
• Almost not
• Just about not
• Not quite
• In no way (in the sense of ‘not easily’)