hardly

Hardly is an English adverb used to indicate that something is almost not the case, or done with only a small degree of effort. It conveys a sense of scarcity or limited extent, as in “I hardly slept last night,” meaning I slept very little. It is commonly paired with phrases such as hardly ever (almost never) and hardly any (almost none). It can modify verbs, adjectives, or whole clauses, and it is often placed before the element it limits, though it can appear at the start of a sentence in inversion for emphasis, as in “Hardly had she arrived when the ceremony began.”

Etymology and development: hardly is formed from the adjective hard plus the adverbial suffix -ly. Its original sense referred to doing something in a hard or laborious manner, and over time it acquired the broader meaning of “to a slight or small degree” or “almost not.” In modern usage, hardly is a formal or semi-formal way to express strong limitation, often with a negative or restrained tone.

Usage notes: hardly is typically used in negative constructions or to signal near absence rather than outright negation. It is related to synonyms such as barely and scarcely, though each carries slightly different connotations and collocations. It should not be confused with the neutral adjective hard, which describes difficulty or solidity rather than degree.

See also: negation in English, barely, scarcely, hardly ever.