barely

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Related to barely: barley water, barley

barely

hardly; only just; almost not: She barely made it to work on time.; scantily: She’s barely clothed.; sparsely

Not to be confused with:

barley – a grain used as food and in making beer, ale, and whiskey

bare·ly

(bâr′lē)

adv.

1. By a very little; hardly: could barely see the road in the fog.

2. In a scanty manner; sparsely: a barely furnished room.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

barely

(ˈbɛəlɪ)

adv

1. only just; scarcely: barely enough for their needs.

2. informal not quite; nearly: barely old enough.

3. scantily; poorly: barely furnished.

4. archaic openly

Usage: Since barely, hardly, and scarcely already have negative force, it is redundant to use another negative in the same clause: he had barely had (not he hadn't barely had) time to think; there was scarcely any (not scarcely no) bread left

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

bare•ly

(ˈbɛər li)

adv.

1. scarcely: I had barely enough money.

2. without disguise or concealment; openly.

3. scantily; meagerly.

4. Archaic. merely.

[before 950]

syn: See hardly.

usage: See hardly.

bare

– barely

1. 'bare'

Bare is an adjective. If something is bare, it is not covered or decorated with anything.

The room has bare wooden floors.

If a part of the body is bare, it has no clothing.

Meg's feet were bare.

2. 'barely'

Barely is an adverb. It has a totally different meaning from bare. You use barely to say that something is only just true or possible. For example, if you can barely do something, you can only just do it. If something is barely noticeable, you can only just notice it.

It was so dark we could barely see.

His whisper was barely audible.

Be Careful!
Don't use 'not' with barely. Don't say, for example, 'The temperature was not barely above freezing'. You say 'The temperature was barely above freezing'.

Be Careful!
If you use an auxiliary verb or modal with barely, you put the auxiliary verb or modal first. You say, for example, 'He can barely read'. Don't say 'He barely can read'.

The audience could barely hear him.

You can use barely to say that one thing happened immediately after another. For example, you can say 'We had barely started the meal when Jane arrived'.

Be Careful!
You use when or before after barely. Don't use 'than'. Don't say, for example, 'We had barely started the meal than Jane arrived'.

I had barely arrived before he led me to the interview room.

They had barely sat down when they were told to leave.

Collins COBUILD English Usage © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 2004, 2011, 2012

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Switch to new thesaurus

Adv.	1.	barely - only a very short time before; "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 hardly, scarce, scarcely, just
	2.	barely - in a sparse or scanty way; "a barely furnished room" scantily

barely

adverb only just, just, hardly, scarcely, at a push, almost not His voice was barely audible.
completely, amply, fully, profusely

Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002

barely

adverb

By a very little; almost not:

hardly, just, scarce, scarcely.

Translations

بِالكاد، بالجُهْدلا يُكَادُ

sotva

knapknap nok

kaumamperdünn

μόλις

apenas

hädin tuskin

à peine

jedva

naumlega

appena a malapena

かろうじて

간신히

nauwelijks

akkurat bare så vidt så vidt nok såvidt

zaledwie

apenas mal

едва

komajsamo

knappt

เกือบไม่พอ

ancak ucu ucuna zar zor

chỉ vừa đủ

几乎不能勉强

barely

[ˈbɛəlɪ] ADV

1. (= scarcely) → apenas
he can barely read → apenas puede leer
he looked around him with barely concealed horror → miró a su alrededor disimulando apenas su horror
there was barely enough room for all of us → apenas había sitio para todos nosotros
there was barely anyone there → allí no había casi nadie
I had barely closed the door when the phone rang → apenas había cerrado la puerta cuando sonó el teléfono

2. (= scantily) a barely furnished room → una habitación escasamente amueblada

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

barely

[ˈbɛə^rli] adv (= hardly) [audible, visible, perceptible, concealed] → à peine; [see, hear, notice, remember, touch, stand] → à peine
I could barely hear what she was saying → J'entendais à peine ce qu'elle disait.
He was barely breathing → Il respirait à peine.
She was barely sixteen → Elle avait à peine seize ans.
barely half → à peine la moitié

Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

barely

adv

(= scarcely) → kaum; (with figures) → knapp, kaum; we barely know him → wir kennen ihn kaum; barely had he started when … → kaum hatte er angefangen, als …; barely concealed horror → kaum verhohlenes Entsetzen; she was barely ten years old → sie war kaum or knapp zehn Jahre alt

furnished → dürftig, spärlich

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

barely

[ˈbɛəlɪ] adv → appena
they had barely enough money → avevano appena denaro a sufficienza
he was so drunk he could barely stand → era così ubriaco che riusciva a malapena a stare in piedi

Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995

bare

(beə) adjective

1. uncovered or naked. bare skin; bare floors.

2. empty. bare shelves.

3. of trees etc, without leaves.

4. worn thin. The carpet is a bit bare.

5. basic; essential. the bare necessities of life.

verb

to uncover. The dog bared its teeth in anger.

ˈbarely adverb

scarcely or only just. We have barely enough food.

ˈbareness noun

ˈbareback adverb, adjective

without a saddle. I enjoy riding bareback.

ˈbarefaced adjective

openly impudent. a barefaced lie.

ˈbarefoot(ed) adjective, adverb

not wearing shoes or socks etc. The children go barefoot on the beach.

ˌbareˈheaded adjective, adverb

not wearing a hat etc.

barely

→ لا يُكَادُ sotva knap kaum μόλις apenas hädin tuskin à peine jedva appena かろうじて 간신히 nauwelijks såvidt zaledwie mal едва knappt เกือบไม่พอ ucu ucuna chỉ vừa đủ 几乎不能

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The planet Mars, I scarcely need remind the reader, re- volves about the sun at a mean distance of 140,000,000 miles, and the light and heat it receives from the sun is barely half of that received by this world.

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Once, during the afternoon, Binu Charley barely missed being impaled in a staked pit that undermined the trail.

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From even the barely hinted imputation of usurpation, and the possible consequences of such a suppressed impression gaining ground, Ahab must of course have been most anxious to protect himself.