hardly

Meanings

1. 1
   adv

   almost not

   We hardly ever go fishing anymore.

2. 2
   adv

   Barely, only just, almost not.

   They hardly ever watch television.

3. 3
   adv

   Certainly not; not at all.

   I hardly think they'll come in this bad weather!

4. 4
   adv

   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 […].

5. 5
   adv

   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.

6. 6
   adv

   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 […].

7. 7
   intj

   Not really.

   I think the Beatles are a really overrated band. ― Hardly!

8. 8
   adv

   only a very short time before

Etymology

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.