hardly
AI In plain words
Writing a short explanation…
Written by a house AI from the entry below, in your language. The entry itself is the source.
hardly
- /ˈhɑːdli/ UK
- /ˈhɑɹdli/ US
Where it comes from
From Middle English hardely, hardliche, from Old English heardlīċe (“boldly; hardily; without ease; in a way that causes pain; not easily; only by degrees”), equivalent to hard + -ly. Compare Dutch hardelijk, German härtlich.
adverb hardlier · more hardly · hardliest · most hardly
- Barely, only just, almost not. They hardly ever watch television.
- Certainly not; not at all. I hardly think they'll come in this bad weather!
- With difficulty. And what gentle flame soever doth warme the heart of young virgins, yet are they hardly drawne to leave and forgoe their mothers, to betake them to their husbands […].
- Harshly, severely; in a hard manner. I was a fool when I married him; and I am so far an incurable fool on that subject, that, for the sake of what I once believed him to be, I wouldn’t have even this shadow of my idle fancy hardly dealt with.
- Firmly, vigorously, with strength or exertion. Let him hardly be possest with an honest curiositie to search out the nature and causes of all things […].
interjection
- Not really. I think the Beatles are a really overrated band. ― Hardly!
