barely

English

Etymology

bare +‎ -ly

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈbɛə(ɹ).li/
• IPA^(key): /ˈbɛɹ.li/
• Rhymes: -ɛə(ɹ)li
• Hyphenation: bare‧ly

Adverb

barely (not comparable)

1. (degree) By a small margin.
   • 1748, David Hume, Enquiries concerning the human understanding and concerning the principles of moral, Oxford University Press (1973), section 8:

     It becomes, therefore, no inconsiderable part of science barely to know the different operations of mind,

   • 1925, Walter Anthony and Tom Reed (titles), Rupert Julian (director), The Phantom of the Opera, silent movie

     ‘It is barely possible you may hear of a ghost, a Phantom of the Opera!’

2. (degree) Almost not at all.

   The plane is so far away now I can barely see it.

   Yes, it is barely visible.

   • 2011 October 23, Phil McNulty, “Man Utd 1 - 6 Man City”, in BBC Sport‎^[1]:

     In contrast to what was to come, City were barely allowed any time to settle on the ball in the opening exchanges, with Ashley Young prominent and drawing heavy fouls from Micah Richards and James Milner.

3. (archaic) merely.
   • 1661, Robert Boyle, The Sceptical Chymist, page 29:

     Now that fire do's not alwayes barely separate the Elementary parts, but sometimes at least alter also the Ingredients of Bodies […]

Usage notes

It is grammatically a negative word. It therefore collocates with ever rather than never.

• Compare

You can find barely ever used items on eBay.

with

You can almost never find used items on eBay.

Synonyms

• (degree): hardly, scarcely
• (barely, almost not or not quite): hardly, just, only just, scarcely

Translations

by a small margin

• Bulgarian: едва (bg) (edva), само (bg) (samo)
• Catalan: a penes, amb prou feines
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 僅僅／仅仅 (zh) (jǐnjǐn), 仅仅 (zh) (jǐnjǐn)

• Dutch: nauwelijks (nl), amper (nl), (archaic) kuim
• Esperanto: apenaŭ (eo)
• Finnish: tuskin (fi), töin tuskin, hädin tuskin (fi), juuri ja juuri, nipin napin (fi), täpärästi (fi)
• French: à peine (fr)
• German: kaum (de)
• Greek:

  Ancient: μόλις (mólis)

• Hungarian: alig (hu)
• Ido: apene (io)
• Interlingue:
• Italian: appena (it)
• Japanese: ぎりぎり (ja) (girigiri)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Korean: 겨우 (ko) (gyeou)
• Latin: vix
• Limburgish: koum (li), amper (li), hèllik (li)
• Norwegian: så vidt
• Polish: ledwo (pl), ledwie (pl)
• Portuguese: apenas (pt)
• Romanian: de abia
• Russian: едва́ (ru) (jedvá), е́ле-е́ле (ru) (jéle-jéle), лишь (ru) (lišʹ), то́лько (ru) (tólʹko)
• Sardinian:

  Campidanese: appenas

  Logudorese: accalaítzu, azìgu, izu

• Sassarese: aìzu
• Scottish Gaelic: air èiginn
• Spanish: apenas (es)
• Ukrainian: ледве (uk) (ledve), ті́льки (uk) (tílʹky), лише́ (lyšé)

almost not at all

• Bulgarian: едва́ (bg) (edvá)
• Czech: téměř vůbec
• Esperanto: apenaŭ (eo)
• Finnish: tuskin (fi), hädin tuskin (fi), juuri ja juuri, nipin napin (fi), tuskin lainkaan
• Georgian: ძლივს (ʒlivs)
• Hungarian: alig (hu), nemigen (hu)
• Interlingue:
• Latin: vix
• Norwegian: nesten ikke
• Old English: unēaþe
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Polish: ledwo (pl), ledwie (pl)
• Portuguese: mal (pt)
• Romanian: please add this translation if you can
• Russian: е́ле (ru) (jéle), едва́ (ru) (jedvá), почти́ не (počtí ne)
• Scottish Gaelic: air èiginn
• Spanish: apenas (es)
• Swedish: knappt (sv)
• Turkish: please add this translation if you can

merely — see merely

Anagrams

• Barley, Braley, barley, bearly, bleary