scarcely

Adverb

• Barely; almost not; by a narrow margin.
• only a very short time before; ; ; ; ; - W.B.Yeats
  • "had scarcely rung the bell when the door flew open"
• almost not
  • "they scarcely ever used the emergency generator"

Adv

• Probably not.
• Certainly not, hardly at all.
• Hardly: only just; by a small margin.

Examples

• He had SCARCELY enough time left on the clock to make his winning move.
• One could scarcely expect the man to know how to fly a helicopter.
• One could scarcely find any trout in the stream without the stocking program.
• Scarcely had she arrived when she was put to work.

Synonyms

barely, hardly, just, scarce, only just

Related Words

rarely