1. adwith difficulty; barely, scarcely. hardly\hard"ly\ , adv. [as. heardlice. see:
hand.].
2. in a hard or difficult manner; with difficulty. recovering hardly what he lost before.
3. unwillingly; grudgingly. the house of peers gave so hardly thei consent.
4. scarcely; barely; not guite; not wholly. hardly shall you one so bad, but he desires the credit of being thought good.
5. severely; harshly; roughly. he has in many things been hardly used.
6. confidently; hardily. [obs.].
7. certainly; surely; indeed. [obs.].
8. In a hard or difficult manner; with difficulty.
9. Unwillingly; grudgingly.
10. Scarcely; barely; not quite; not wholly.
11. Severely; harshly; roughly.
12. Confidently; hardily.
13. Certainly; surely; indeed. almost not; "he hardly ever goes fishing"; "he was hardly more than sixteen years old"; "they scarcely ever used the emergency generator".
14. 1. emphasis You use hardly to modify a statement when you want to emphasize that it is only a small amount or detail which makes it true, and that therefore it is best to consider the opposite statement as being true. I hardly know you Their two faces were hardly more than eighteen inches apart. = scarcely, barely.
15. You use hardly in expressions such as hardly ever, hardly any, and hardly anyone to mean almost never, almost none, or almost no-one. We ate chips every night, but hardly ever had fish Most of the others were so young they had hardly any experience.
16. emphasis You use hardly before a negative statement in order to emphasize that something is usually true or usually happens. Hardly a day goes by without a visit from someone. = scarcely.
17. emphasis When you say you can hardly do something, you are emphasizing that it is very difficult for you to do it. My garden was covered with so many butterflies that I could hardly see:
the flowers.
18. If you say hardly had one thing happened when something else happened, you mean that the first event was followed immediately by the second. He had hardly collected the papers on his desk when the door burst open = no sooner.
19. You use hardly to mean `not' when you want to suggest that you are expecting your listener or reader to agree with your comment. We have not seen the letter, so we can hardly comment on it.
20. You use `hardly' to mean `no', especially when you want to express surprise or annoyance at a statement that you disagree with. `They all thought you were marvellous!' --- `Well, hardly.'.