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- scarcely adverb (NOT) certainly not: I'd scarcely have done it if I didn't think it was absolutely necessary! He's only two - you can scarcely blame him for behaving badly. Synonym hardly
dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/scarcely
used to say that something happens immediately after something else happens. He had scarcely put the phone down when the doorbell rang. Scarcely had the game started when it began to rain. used to suggest that something is not at all reasonable or likely. It was scarcely an occasion for laughter. She could scarcely complain, could she?
Hardly ever, rarely, scarcely and seldom are frequency adverbs. We can use them to refer to things that almost never happen, or do not happen very often. They have a negative meaning. We use them without not. Rarely, scarcely and seldom are more common in writing than in speaking: He hardly ever smiles. [a trout is a type of fish]
There are five meanings listed in OED's entry for the adverb scarcely, three of which are labelled obsolete. See ‘Meaning & use’ for definitions, usage, and quotation evidence.
The meaning of SCARCELY is by a narrow margin : only just. How to use scarcely in a sentence.
Scarcely means ‘almost not at all’. It is quite formal. It usually comes in the normal mid position for adverbs (between the subject and the main verb, or after the modal verb or first auxiliary verb, or after be as a main verb): …
Though an ly adverb, scarcely is unusual in that it is not so much a descriptor of its root adjective as a synonym of the adverb form scarce. If you scarcely believe me, look it up for yourself!
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What does hardly mean?
1. You use scarcely to emphasize that something is only just true or only just the case. [emphasis] [...] 2. You can use scarcely to say that something is not true or is not the case, in a humorous or critical way. [...]
