Etymology From Middle English hardely, hardliche, from Old English heardlīċe (“boldly; hardily; without ease; in a way that causes pain; not easily; only by degrees”), equivalent to hard + -ly. Compare Dutch hardelijk, German härtlich.
1
Barely, only just, almost not.
They hardly ever watch television.
It's hardly possible he could lose the election.
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Hardly did I arrive when he left.
I could hardly have managed it in less time.
How lonely they looked as they lay there, and how ill assorted! That little heap had been for two thousand years the wisest, loveliest, proudest creature - I can hardly call her woman - in the whole universe.1886 October – 1887 January, H[enry] Rider Haggard, She: A History of Adventure, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., published 1887, →OCLC:
2
Certainly not; not at all.
I hardly think they'll come in this bad weather!
With this the second of three games in seven days for Stoke, it was hardly surprising to see nine changes from the side that started against Newcastle in the Premier League on Monday.2011 November 3, David Ornstein, “Macc Tel-Aviv 1-2 Stoke”, in BBC Sport, archived from the original on 27 Jan 2012:
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Investors face a quandary. Cash offers a return of virtually zero in many developed countries; government-bond yields may have risen in recent weeks but they are still unattractive. Equities have suffered two big bear markets since 2000 and are wobbling again. It is hardly surprising that pension funds, insurers and endowments are searching for new sources of return.2013 July 6, “The rise of smart beta”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8843, archived from the original on 01 May 2024, page 68:
And what gentle flame soever doth warme the heart of young virgins, yet are they hardly drawne to leave and forgoe their mothers, to betake them to their husbands […]., Folio Society, 2006, vol.1, p.234
While in Chelsea, Anne Smiley pined, taking very hardly to her unaccustomed role of wife abandoned.1977, John Le Carré, The Honourable Schoolboy, Folio Society, published 2010, page 40:
I was a fool when I married him; and I am so far an incurable fool on that subject, that, for the sake of what I once believed him to be, I wouldn’t have even this shadow of my idle fancy hardly dealt with.1849 May – 1850 November, Charles Dickens, The Personal History of David Copperfield, London: Bradbury & Evans, […], published 1850, →OCLC:
"Mr. Cholmondeley, the young men out here are much too hardly worked to allow them time for paying impertinent compliments."1866 February 23, [O.G. Trevelyan], “The Dawk Bungalow”, in Frazer's Magazine, London, page 219:
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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, White Nights (Constance Garnett translation), page 51:
The War pressed hardly upon imaginative men in responsible positions.1928, Dorothy Sayers, The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club:
5
MannerObsolete Firmly, vigorously, with strength or exertion.
Let him hardly be possest with an honest curiositie to search out the nature and causes of all things […]., Folio Society, 2006, vol.1, p.148
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 June – 1817 April/May (date written), [Mary Shelley], chapter IV, in Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus. […], volume I, London: […] [Macdonald and Son] for Lackington, Hughes, Harding, Mavor, & Jones, published 1 January 1818, →OCLC, pages 101–102:
Etymology From Middle English hardely, hardliche, from Old English heardlīċe (“boldly; hardily; without ease; in a way that causes pain; not easily; only by degrees”), equivalent to hard + -ly. Compare Dutch hardelijk, German härtlich.
1
Not really.
I think the Beatles are a really overrated band. ― Hardly!