Main entry: hardly, just, barely, scarce, scarcely
Definition: only a very short time before
Usage: 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
Definition: almost not
Usage: he hardly ever goes fishing; he was hardly more than sixteen years old; they scarcely ever used the emergency generator