Crossword clues for hardly
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
hardly
adverb
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES
barely/hardly sleep (=to not sleep well)
▪ I’d hardly slept the night before the wedding.
barely/hardly visible
▪ The parked car was barely visible in the darkness.
barely/hardly/scarcely above a whisper (=only a little louder than a whisper)
▪ 'Not me', he said, in a voice barely above a whisper.
barely/hardly/scarcely distinguishable
be hardly/barely awake
▪ George, barely awake, came stumbling down the stairs.
can hardly bear sth (=find sth very difficult or upsetting to do)
▪ He was so ashamed that he could hardly bear to look at her.
can hardly breathe
▪ It was so hot that I felt as though I could hardly breathe.
can hardly/scarcely believe sth
▪ I could scarcely believe my luck.
can hardly/scarcely imagine (=find it difficult to imagine)
▪ He could scarcely imagine what living in such poor conditions must have been like.
could hardly move
▪ The bar was so crowded you could hardly move.
Hardly a day passes without (=there is bad news almost every day)
▪ Hardly a day passes without more bad news about the economy .
hardly a day/week/month etc goes by
▪ Hardly a week goes by without some food scare being reported in the media.
hardly expect (=almost not)
▪ You can hardly expect a child of three to know the difference between right and wrong.
hardly likely (=not very likely)
▪ It seems hardly likely that she would tell her husband about it.
hardly surprising
▪ It is hardly surprising that new mothers often suffer from depression.
hardly/barely remember (=almost not at all)
▪ I can hardly remember him.
sb can hardly refuse (=it would be unreasonable or very difficult to refuse)
▪ Going out was the last thing I wanted to do, but I could hardly refuse.
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ ADJECTIVE
able
▪ Riven was stiff all over, hardly able to stretch himself flat.
▪ But hardly able to stand such an insult, she returns, mightily testing both his faith and his pocketbook.
▪ After two days they found him, an exhausted scarecrow of a figure hardly able to stand.
▪ Ezra said, looking out the window, hardly able to see the water behind his own reflection.
▪ He paced the dusty road somewhat nervously, yet hardly able to contain the soaring enthusiasm in his heart.
▪ President Gorbachev demanded and got more and more personal power, although he was hardly able to use it effectively.
▪ Harriet was weeping, hardly able to speak.
▪ Her companions returned from it hardly able to stand; she was not much sturdier.
likely
▪ It's hardly likely that the people in charge would want to share the fate of this unfortunate planet.
▪ It is hardly likely that a vicious thug will wait politely while we ring the police.
▪ Far from being a jackpot for commuters, the compensation payouts are hardly likely to be worth the flutter.
▪ It seemed hardly likely she would go to such lengths to prevent her husband from discovering about the Grand Duke Igor.
▪ It could have been an accident, but I knew that was hardly likely, not with the file missing.
▪ Although it was hardly likely he would want to seek her out.
▪ They're hardly likely to have the most tolerant or liberal attitudes are they!
▪ But the Research Board is hardly likely to get involved in a policing activity.
surprising
▪ These distortions are the very essence of prejudice, and it is hardly surprising that conflict with Peter had arisen.
▪ It is hardly surprising that real wages rose less rapidly than productivity and hence that profitability and competitiveness improved.
▪ If such a three-pronged assault on the ailing Soviet economy has a familiar ring to it, that is hardly surprising.
▪ It's hardly surprising then, that we get confused by the signals he gives out - now more than ever.
▪ The overall tone is warm and woody - hardly surprising when you consider the sheer mass of wood involved!
▪ Orderic's attitude is hardly surprising.
▪ Given some of the feats he has been demonstrating, it is hardly surprising.
▪ It is hardly surprising, therefore, that many women returners are confused about what kind of job to look for.
■ VERB
bear
▪ She could hardly bear to listen to them, smiling Clyde, amiable Harvey, fat Marlene.
▪ Heartrending, Rob thought; he could hardly bear to look.
▪ The two sides of the equation did not balance and she could hardly bear the implications of that.
▪ I am so homesick I can hardly bear it.
▪ At school the next day I hurt so much I could hardly bear to stay sitting down.
▪ I remember being filled with such excitement I could hardly bear it.
▪ What that will do to Strachan's nerves hardly bears thinking about.
▪ He could hardly bear to go on.
believe
▪ Kezia refused a sandwich but she smiled at Annabel, and - I could hardly believe it - Annabel curtsied.
▪ I could hardly believe what I was saying.
▪ He who is proclaimed a saint need hardly believe in sainthood.
▪ If she were to conceive a child in these circumstances she would hardly believe that any part of it was hers.
▪ Joe could hardly believe his luck to have returned home in such good shape.
blame
▪ And she could hardly blame him after the disaster of their own brief marriage, Laura now thought wryly.
▪ A lot of that was dangerously below code, but you could hardly blame people.
▪ We could hardly blame anyone, students or advisers, if they didn't.
▪ The authorities had become very protective, and one hardly blamed them.
▪ Jasper wasn't too keen to start with and you can hardly blame him, but now he's fine about it.
▪ You could hardly blame them, though, for feeling bewildered from time to time.
▪ You can hardly blame Dixons for not making this suggestion.
change
▪ When he awoke Lucy was still at his side and the position of the sun had hardly changed.
▪ Save for the hour, his bedtime had hardly changed over the years.
▪ But quality teas, the best grade, have hardly changed at around 200p a kilogramme.
▪ But the workers' production hardly changed at all.
▪ The top 15 has hardly changed since last season.
▪ Sales of large-scale data storage devices also increased strongly, while earnings from computer maintenance services hardly changed.
▪ Since 1589, this house has hardly changed at all.
▪ The complexion of the game hardly changed with the little-used reserves in.
expect
▪ One can hardly expect newspapers not to change over four decades!
▪ I hardly expected to hear anything new.
▪ You could hardly expect him to regard it as his home.
▪ He pushed open the screen hardly expecting to have to face the old man alone.
▪ A woman of Daisy's age would hardly expect to have a man invited for her, Sophia decided.
▪ One could hardly expect his mood to show much improvement when he did return.
▪ She did not sleep well again that night, though with Naylor so much in her thoughts she had hardly expected to.
▪ One could hardly expect the modern media to do otherwise.
hear
▪ It ought to be so quiet you can hardly hear it.
▪ I had hardly heard of Wall Street.
▪ Inside the car the sounds of Technotronic screamed out so loudly that they could hardly hear themselves think.
▪ When Sonya spoke, I hardly heard what she said.
▪ He could hardly hear his thoughts above the rasping of his breath.
▪ The wind is so strong I can hardly hear.
▪ Zacchaeus could hardly hear because of the row the crowd was making.
know
▪ He spoke very little and we hardly knew him because he was up in front with the engine.
▪ The rest of the time I hardly knew he was there.
▪ Ludo swung his club at him with all that strength he hardly knows he possesses.
▪ But now, for three days and nights, he hardly knew where he was.
▪ Though they hardly knew my mother, they came to the funeral home and stayed until it closed.
▪ Lucy and her mother had fallen out years before, and the children hardly knew her.
▪ Of late, however, her output has been so uneven, one hardly knows what to expect.
look
▪ She hardly looked to be thirty; she looked beautiful, really beautiful.
▪ The first couple of times I picked him up he hardly looked at me as we drove home.
▪ I could hardly look at my dinner when I got home.
▪ A 55-year-old guy drinking with a woman who looks hardly old enough to drink?
▪ He seemed preoccupied, hardly looking at her as he got undressed.
▪ It was so bright I could hardly look at it.
▪ The apothecary took my money, wrapped up a bottle in blue paper and handed it over, hardly looking at me.
▪ I adored the girl, but she would hardly look at me, not that I blame her.
matter
▪ But it hardly matters to most of the city's motorists, who are unlikely to be going anywhere.
▪ He was finally caught, and it hardly mattered who had caught him.
▪ This would hardly matter if we still lived in those dim and distant days when nobody took sport too seriously.
▪ Once networked, it hardly matters whether you are on the floor below, or across town.
▪ It hardly mattered, since that route led to the docks he had already seen.
▪ It hardly matters, because examples of bias are there in abundance, and some take fairly systematic forms.
▪ The question whether they make a picture more or less luminous hardly matters.
▪ But, for most, the money hardly mattered.
move
▪ They're hardly moving at all - I can nearly keep up with them just by walking quick.
▪ But Westerners are hardly moving to Seoul to run them.
▪ After a few days I started to develop backache in the lumbar region so acute that I could hardly move.
▪ Huge fans in the basement of Bio2 pushed the air around for some semblance of wind, but it hardly moved pollen.
▪ Stiff, wet and hungry, Duncan had hardly moved since their arrival.
▪ Between the two bundled men she could hardly move.
▪ With all the external guys pegged out it hardly moves in the wind.
▪ By the end of dinner I could hardly move.
need
▪ But the old comfort farmer will hardly need the physical object any longer.
▪ In the tangled politics of the regency such a complication was hardly needed.
▪ The central concerns of the kinship school hardly need restating.
▪ It hardly needs saying that Dame Joan is a virtuoso.
▪ Many managers feel that they understand how to run meetings so well that they hardly need to prepare at all.
▪ It hardly needs saying that how this story is told will depend upon philosophical argument.
▪ But such a visit hardly needs a precise purpose to be fruitful.
▪ How I welcomed Night Duty, I need hardly say.
notice
▪ It will then be so interested in setting up new territories that it will hardly notice the newcomer.
▪ They hardly notice when I walk up with the General who has chosen my horse already and his name is Dancing Dan.
▪ Her head throbbed in rhythm with her bruises, yet she'd hardly noticed any of it downstairs.
▪ The punditocracy in our country has been so one-sided for so long that we hardly notice the routine tilt anymore.
▪ I lay there for a long time unhappy and hardly noticing the daily noises of the block assembling round me.
▪ The sky was darkly overcast, but he hardly noticed the weather.
▪ I'd hardly noticed them really.
▪ When she came out to be interviewed earlier that spring, she hardly noticed the weather.
see
▪ Nothing much. Hardly saw each other.
▪ I had spent all of 1972 campaigning and hardly saw them at all.
▪ You couldn't hardly see across the room sometimes.
▪ You hardly saw a car in western Nebraska in those days.
▪ She ended the first day with a headache so severe she could hardly see.
▪ Both Hera and Aphrodite bear children, but we hardly see these Goddesses in this capacity.
▪ I could hardly see, I was crying so much.
▪ We hardly saw each other, let alone our children.
seem
▪ The Goblin horde seemed hardly diminished.
▪ Christine under-stands only a little Uchinaguchi, but that hardly seems to matter.
▪ He supposed that Mr Cottle could not be ruled out as a suspect, but he hardly seemed a likely killer.
▪ But more low-paying jobs hardly seems like an adequate response to the problem.
▪ In fact, it seems hardly possible.
▪ Plus the Warriors' new fast-paced offense hardly seems suited for the plodding Marshall.
▪ For Cranmer, who headed the party of Reform for the next twenty years, the task seemed hardly begun.
▪ All of this was fine with Jim, though it hardly seemed of major import.
speak
▪ In fact she hardly spoke for days.
▪ The lady hardly speaks just for herself.
▪ But ... she'd hardly spoken to Adam since the morning he'd returned from Starr Hills.
▪ I could hardly speak Songhai anymore.
▪ The two officers who had hardly spoken were beginning to fidget on their chairs.
▪ Once a fine orator, he hardly spoke now.
▪ Cal and her mum were hardly speaking to each other.
▪ She walked quickly and hardly spoke to him.
surprise
▪ It is hardly surprising that collections of such photographs hold great personal importance.
▪ Given the class size of more than 60 it's hardly surprising that the teaching methods have to be quite traditional.
▪ And it is hardly surprising that she did not think of tongue speaking as a possible exception.
▪ It was hardly surprising that many among that particular audience immediately recognised him and gathered round.
▪ It is hardly surprising that it is beginning to go missing.
▪ Hardly surprising then that budgets were kept low and most films were aimed at the television audience.
▪ It is, therefore, hardly surprising that they find themselves subjected to a similar neglect.
wait
▪ I could hardly wait to get in those bars.
▪ She could hardly wait to start.
▪ I can hardly wait to hear about left temporal lobe epileptics.
▪ I can hardly wait - I hear some of John's outfits are quite stunning.
▪ This paper's radio critic can hardly wait.
▪ Well, I could hardly wait for the fight ahead.
PHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
I don't blame you/you can hardly blame him etc
I need hardly say/tell/remind etc
▪ Birds have never been one of my major interests, I need hardly say.
▪ How I welcomed Night Duty, I need hardly say.
▪ I need hardly say how heartily I sympathize with the purposes of the Audubon Society.
▪ I need hardly say that I don't care to have things so.
▪ I need hardly say that my wife's first impression of Lewis differed somewhat from my own.
▪ Mr Bawn, I need hardly tell you, is a man of considerable dignity and I would not leave him here.
▪ Type 4 I need hardly say how glad I am.
hardly ever
▪ Brent hardly ever calls me anymore.
▪ We hardly ever go out to eat.
▪ From that day on Bill and Kath have hardly ever thrown anything away.
▪ I hardly ever write letters any more.
▪ Many people think museums make lots of money on big shows, but in truth, they hardly ever break even.
▪ She gave cheap advice and charge mini-mum fees, hardly ever collecting on past due accounts.
▪ The charm of it hardly ever fails.
▪ Theo's occasional complaints, hardly ever voiced directly, were usually muted and so we fail to take note of them.
▪ Universities have hardly ever been held in lower esteem.
▪ You know kids who always do their schoolwork and kids who hardly ever do their class and homework assignments.
no sooner/hardly had ... than
▪ Alas, no sooner had he started than he realised it was no longer what he wanted.
▪ But no sooner had Miriam gone than Harry suddenly returned looking more cheerful than one might have expected.
▪ No sooner had he gone than one of the cameramen approached.
▪ No sooner had it begun than the rain seemed to end.
sb can't wait/can hardly wait
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
▪ All these similarities could hardly be due to chance.
▪ He's hardly a world chess champion - you should be able to beat him.
▪ I hardly know the people I'm working with.
▪ It's hardly surprising he's upset, considering the way you've treated him!
▪ The day had hardly begun, and he felt exhausted already.
▪ They only won 1-0 - hardly a great victory!
▪ This is hardly the ideal time to buy a house.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ At least the socket in the tip of her left forefinger hardly showed.
▪ But I hardly like to tell you about the disaster that befell Angela within the next few minutes.
▪ First off, he decided to attack dueling, which was hardly a threat any longer.
▪ He found he could hardly open his eyes.
▪ That may be an arresting statement, but it is hardly an exaggerated description of what they did.
▪ With two of the office down with chicken-pox, she hardly had time to think these days, let alone relax.
▪ Women were hardly spared that day, either.
▪ You hardly ever hear of hip-hop guys naming themselves after computer hardware.
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Hardly
Hardly \Hard"ly\ (h[aum]rd"l[y^]), adv. [AS. heardlice. See Hard.]
-
In a hard or difficult manner; with difficulty.
Recovering hardly what he lost before.
--Dryden. -
Unwillingly; grudgingly.
The House of Peers gave so hardly their consent.
--Milton. -
Scarcely; barely; not quite; not wholly.
Hardly shall you find any one so bad, but he desires the credit of being thought good.
--South. -
Severely; harshly; roughly.
He has in many things been hardly used.
--Swift. Confidently; hardily. [Obs.]
--Holland.Certainly; surely; indeed. [Obs.]
--Chaucer.
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
hardly
c.1200, "in a hard manner, with great exertion or effort," from Old English heardlic "stern, severe, harsh; bold, warlike" (see hard + -ly (2)). Hence "assuredly, certainly" (early 14c.). Main modern sense of "barely, just" (1540s) reverses this, via the intermediate meaning "not easily, with trouble" (early 15c.). Formerly with superficial negative (not hardly).
Wiktionary
hardly
adv. 1 (context manner obsolete English) firmly, vigorously, with strength or exertion. 2 (context manner archaic English) harshly, severely. 3 (context now rare English) With difficulty. 4 (context degree English) barely, only just, almost not. interj. Not really.
WordNet
hardly
adv. by a small margin; "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 [syn: barely, just, scarcely, scarce]
almost not; "he hardly ever goes fishing"; "he was hardly more than sixteen years old"; "they scarcely ever used the emergency generator" [syn: scarcely]
Usage examples of "hardly".
Clotho picked a white Abyssinian, fussing over it tremendously, hardly willing to put the kitten down.
In any case, however, his accuracy in detail is hardly to be accepted without question, especially in his description of the Acropolis, where he has to try his prentice hand upon a material far too great for him.
Furthermore, the rights which the present statutes confer are subject to the Anti-Trust Acts, though it can be hardly said that the cases in which the Court has endeavored to draw the line between the rights claimable by patentees and the kind of monopolistic privileges which are forbidden by those acts exhibit entire consistency in their holdings.
Replying to James Warren on April 16, Adams could hardly control his anger.
On February 28, Adams could happily record in his diary that with smooth seas and a fine breeze the Boston had hardly any motion but forward.
In ability, experience, and resolve they were hardly a match for Adams, Franklin, and Jay, who, having started from scratch as diplomats, had come a long way in their time in Europe.
Jefferson let three months pass before sending Adams a rather stiff letter of apology and explanation, which, though well intentioned, hardly sufficed.
It was hardly what Adams had called for, but it was a start, providing funds to equip and man three frigates, the Constitution, the United States, and the Constellation, which had been built during the Washington administration but remained unequipped for service.
Like Adams, he claimed to be out of touch with politics, which was hardly so.
And nearly all of them seem to be aesthetically alive in a way that hardly any English writer since the Romantic Revival had been.
Hardly had they landed when the air service boys found themselves listening to sounds that seemed significant.
If he were going to betray us, I thought, it would hardly be here, in Akkadian territory.
The reasoning was sound, but Elizabeth could hardly put the idea of her father and brother on their way to Albany out of her head.
The tourist traffic in Algeria was hardly sufficient to support even the more accessible resorts along the coast.
Or the rain might fall, as it does in Algeria, in endless deluges, making a wet dark well of the street, but the class was hardly distracted.