hardly

Meanings

1. 1
   adv

   Almost not; only to a very small degree.

   I could hardly hear him over the noise.

2. 2
   adv

   Used to say something happened only a very short time before something else.

   We had hardly sat down when the phone rang.

3. 3
   adv

   Certainly not; surely not.

   You can hardly expect me to believe that.

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.

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