What does scarcely mean?

Definitions for scarcely
ˈskɛərs liscarce·ly

This dictionary definitions page includes all the possible meanings, example usage and translations of the word scarcely.

Princeton's WordNet

  1. barely, hardly, just, scarcely, scarceadverb

    only a very short time before

    "they could barely hear the speaker"; "we hardly knew them"; "just missed being hit"; "had scarcely rung the bell when the door flew open"; "would have scarce arrived before she would have found some excuse to leave"- W.B.Yeats

  2. hardly, scarcelyadverb

    almost not

    "he hardly ever goes fishing"; "he was hardly more than sixteen years old"; "they scarcely ever used the emergency generator"

Wiktionary

  1. scarcelyadverb

    Probably not.

    One could scarcely find any trout in the stream without the stocking program.

  2. scarcelyadverb

    Certainly not.

    One could scarcely expect the man to know how to fly a helicopter.

  3. scarcelyadverb

    Almost not at all; by a small margin.

Samuel Johnson's Dictionary

  1. Scarce, Scarcelyadverb

    Etymology: from the adjective.

    A thing which we so little hoped to see, that even they which beheld it done scarcely believed their own senses. Richard Hooker.

    When we our betters see bearing our woes,
    We scarcely think our miseries our foes. William Shakespeare, King Lear.

    Age, which unavoidably is but one remove from death, and consequently should have nothing about it but what looks like a decent preparation for it, scarce ever appears, of late days, but in the high mode, the flaunting garb, and utmost gaudery of youth. South.

    You neither have enemies, nor can scarce have any. Dryd.

    He scarcely knew him, striving to disown
    His blotted form, and blushing to be known. Dryden.

    Slowly he fails, and scarcely stems the tides;
    The pressing water pours within her sides. Dryden.

ChatGPT

  1. scarcely

    Scarcely is an adverb that means hardly at all, only just, barely, or not quite; often suggesting that something happened immediately after something else in a surprising way. It can also mean in a manner indicating a lack of abundance or scarcity.

Webster Dictionary

  1. Scarcelyadverb

    with difficulty; hardly; scantly; barely; but just

  2. Scarcelyadverb

    frugally; penuriously

Editors Contribution

  1. scarcely

    "You use scarcely to emphasize that something is only just true or only just the case.You can use scarcely to say that something is not true or is not the case, in a humorous or critical way.By a very little; almost not:barely, hardly, just, scarce.hardly, barely, only just, scarce,by no means, hardly, not at all, definitely not, under no circumstances, on no account,rarely, seldom, not often, infrequently, occasionally, once in a blue moon (informal), hardly ever;by a narrow margin.

    Fascism’s unlikely recrudescence in Britain in the years after the war—and the resistance it met— are scarcely remembered at all.


    Submitted by anonymous on May 23, 2020  

British National Corpus

  1. Adverbs Frequency

    Rank popularity for the word 'scarcely' in Adverbs Frequency: #327

How to pronounce scarcely?

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Numerology

  1. Chaldean Numerology

    The numerical value of scarcely in Chaldean Numerology is: 3

  2. Pythagorean Numerology

    The numerical value of scarcely in Pythagorean Numerology is: 5

Examples of scarcely in a Sentence

  1. Bill Hare:

    The Bureau of Meteorology and others have predicted another extremely dangerous fire season on the east coast and also in southwestern Australia, if that explodes again, it's going to be very damaging economically and also psychologically. I think people are scarcely recovering from the bushfires last year and early this year. So when you're looking at these regions now, you can see the damage has not been undone.

  2. Tom Blair:

    Silence is one of the great arts of conversation, as allowed by Cicero himself, who says, "there is not only an art, but an eloquence in it." A well bred woman may easily and effectually promote the most useful and elegant conversation without speaking a word. The modes of speech are scarcely more variable than the modes of silence.

  3. Thomas Arnold:

    My object will be, if possible, to form Christian men, for Christian boys I can scarcely hope to make.

  4. William H Gass:

    We have scarcely gotten home ... when our children's sneezes greet us, skinned knees bleed after waiting all day to do so. There is the bellyache and the burned-out basement bulb, the stalled car and the incontinent cat. The windows frost, the toilets sweat, the body of our spouse is one cold shoulder and the darkness of our bedroom is soon full of the fallen shadows of our failures.

  5. Jesse Stuart:

    Write something to suit yourself and many people will like it; write something to suit everybody and scarcely anyone will care for it.

Popularity rank by frequency of use

scarcely#10000#21962#100000

Translations for scarcely

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"scarcely." Definitions.net. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 19 Mar. 2024. <https://www.definitions.net/definition/scarcely>.

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