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hardly

HARD-lee/ˈhɑɹdli/UKHAHD-lee/ˈhɑːdli/

6 meanings of hardly

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  1. 1
    scarcelyadverb
    To a very small degree; almost not, or only just.

    By the end of the hike, she could hardly lift her feet.

    The fine print was hardly legible without a magnifying glass.

    UsageNot the adverb of hard: you work hard, not incorrect: work hardly. Often hardly any, hardly ever, without another negative.

    Similarbarely, scarcely

    Note

    Though it measures degree, it behaves like a negative. It pairs naturally with ever and any (hardly ever, hardly anyone), and standard English does not stack it with another negative: "can't hardly" is dialect. Moved to the front of a clause, it pulls the auxiliary ahead of the subject, as in Hardly had I arrived when he left. Rider Haggard's She shows the softer, hedging use: "I can hardly call her woman."

  2. 2
    by no meansadverb
    Certainly not; by no means.

    A two-minute delay is hardly the disaster he made it out to be.

    One good review hardly proves the restaurant is the best in town.

    UsageCommon in set frames such as hardly surprising and I hardly think so, often with a dry, dismissive tone.

    Oppositecertainly, definitely

    Note

    Understatement does the work of denial here: the speaker says "barely" and means "not at all," a figure known as litotes. Context separates it from the "barely" meaning. Hardly surprising rules surprise out entirely, while could hardly lift means only just able to lift.

  3. 3
    no (in reply)interjection
    Used on its own to mean 'not really' or to firmly disagree.

    "Were you nervous before the speech?" "Hardly. I've done this a hundred times."

    "Surely that scared you?" "Hardly. I've seen far worse on the job."

    UsageA curt one-word reply that can sound dismissive. It can stand alone or come before a reason.

    Oppositeabsolutely

Less common meanings

  1. 4
    adverbrare
    With difficulty; in a way that does not come easily.
    While in Chelsea, Anne Smiley pined, taking very hardly to her unaccustomed role of wife abandoned.
    1977, John Le Carré, The Honourable Schoolboy

    Oppositeeasily, readily

    Note

    This is the meaning the Old English heardlīċe already carried: "not easily," "only by degrees." Modern readers tend to hear the "barely" meaning whenever hardly comes before a verb, so this sense survives best after one. John le Carré's The Honourable Schoolboy (1977) has a wife "taking very hardly" to being abandoned. In new writing, "with difficulty" says the same thing without ambiguity.

  2. 5
    adverbdated
    With harshness or severity, as when treating someone roughly.
    "Mr. Cholmondeley, the young men out here are much too hardly worked to allow them time for paying impertinent compliments."
    1866, [O.G. Trevelyan], “The Dawk Bungalow”
    Only I wasn't at all pleased with that; I saw that he was simply sorry for me because I was so hardly treated by grandmother, and that was all.
    1918, Fyodor Dostoevsky, Constance Garnett
    Note

    Harshness in how someone is handled is the point here, and the word typically sits just before a past participle: hardly dealt with, hardly worked, so hardly treated. Dickens uses it in David Copperfield, and Constance Garnett's 1918 translation of Dostoevsky's White Nights still keeps it. Present-day English says harshly treated instead, which avoids sounding like "barely treated."

    Checked 7 Nov 2026 · 3 facts

    • Dickens uses hardly meaning 'harshly' in David Copperfield, in dialogue spoken by Betsey Trotwood. gutenberg.org
    • Constance Garnett's translation of Dostoevsky's White Nights was first published in 1918. en.wikisource.org
    • Garnett's translation retains hardly meaning 'harshly', in Nastenka's account of her grandmother's treatment. gutenberg.org
  3. 6
    adverbobsolete
    In a firm and vigorous way, with strength or exertion.
    Sometimes my pulse beat so quickly and hardly, that I felt the palpitation of every artery; at others, I nearly sank to the ground through languor and extreme weakness.
    1816, [Mary Shelley], Frankenstein
    Note

    Built from hard plus -ly in the most literal way, it once described force and effort. Mary Shelley's Frankenstein still has a pulse that beat "so quickly and hardly." The job has since passed to the plain adverb hard, as in push hard and hit hard. Meeting this sense in older prose is a cue to read hardly as "forcefully," not as any kind of negative.

    Checked 7 Nov 2026 · 4 facts

    • Hardly is formed from hard plus -ly. en.wiktionary.org
    • Hardly historically meant firmly or vigorously, with strength or exertion; this sense is not negative. en.wiktionary.org
    • Mary Shelley wrote Frankenstein. gutenberg.org
    • Frankenstein contains the exact words “so quickly and hardly” describing a beating pulse. gutenberg.org

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Origin

Old English heardlīċe ("boldly, hardily; with difficulty; painfully; not easily; only by degrees") became Middle English hardely, hardliche, and the word amounts to hard + -ly. Dutch hardelijk and German härtlich are comparable.