hardly — OAT · Shobdo

hardly

adverb

1 we hardly know each other | I had hardly got a word out before she changed the subject:

scarcely, barely, only just, not much, faintly, narrowly, slightly, rarely, little;

by a very small margin, by the narrowest of margins, by the skin of one's teeth, by a hair's breadth, by a nose;

almost not, not quite;

informal by a whisker.

▷antonyms fully.

2 she could hardly sit up straight:

only with difficulty, barely, scarcely, only with effort, only just, almost not;

British, informal at a push.

▷antonyms easily.