scarcely meaning: definition, etymology and quotations

scarcely

adv

UK /ˈskɛəsli/ · US /ˈskɛɹsli/

Etymology From Middle English scarcely, scarsly, scarsely, scarsliche, scarseliche, equivalent to scarce + -ly.

Modal Probably not.

One could scarcely find any trout in the stream without the stocking program.
The staff here are frequently in the news, thanks to their successful efforts to make an attractive station where travellers would scarcely expect to find one.1951 October, William B. Stocks, “A Few Miles from Huddersfield”, in Railway Magazine, page 701:

Modal Certainly not, hardly at all.

One could scarcely expect the man to know how to fly a helicopter.
He did not enter upon the subject without being aware that government by its very nature counteracts the improvement of individual intellect; but, as the views he entertains in this particular are out of the common road, it is scarcely to be wondered at that he understood the proposition more completely as he proceeded, and saw more distinctly into the nature of the remedy.1842, William Godwin, An Enquiry Concerning Political Justice:

3 more examples

But, of course, this weather had put a stop to every kind of movement; for even if men could have borne the cold, they could scarcely be brought to face the perils of the snow-drifts.1869, R. D. Blackmore, Lorna Doone:
The planet Mars, I scarcely need remind the reader, revolves 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.1898, H. G. Wells, The War of the Worlds:
His clothes could scarcely be called shabby, at least they passed muster in the half-light, but one’s imagination could not have pictured the wearer embarking on the purchase of a half-crown box of chocolates or laying out ninepence on a carnation buttonhole.1914, Saki, “Dusk”, in Beasts and Super-Beasts:

Hardly: only just; by a small margin.

Scarcely had she arrived when she was put to work.
He had scarcely finished, when the labourer arrived who had been sent for my ransom.1824, Geoffrey Crayon [pseudonym; Washington Irving], Tales of a Traveller, (please specify |part=1 to 4), Philadelphia, Pa.: H[enry] C[harles] Carey & I[saac] Lea, […], →OCLC:

4 more examples

It is scarcely possible to avoid comparing the eye to a telescope.1859 November 24, Charles Darwin, “Difficulties on Theory”, in On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, […], London: John Murray, […], →OCLC, page 188:
In 1776 manufactories scarcely existed even in name in all this vast territory.1875 December 7, Ulysses S. Grant, Ulysses S. Grant's Seventh State of the Union Address:
Scarcely had she got fairly into it, however, before the beasts closed in behind her, […]1887, Arthur Conan Doyle, A Study in Scarlet:
“Scarcely had Alice reached her twentieth birthday, than she gave her erstwhile fiancée [sic] his formal congé.[…]”1904–1905, Baroness Orczy [i.e., Emma Orczy], “The Disappearance of Count Collini”, in The Case of Miss Elliott, London: T[homas] Fisher Unwin, published 1905, →OCLC; republished as popular edition, London: Greening & Co., 1909, OCLC 11192831, quoted in The Case of Miss Elliott (ebook no. 2000141h.html), Australia: Project Gutenberg of Australia, February 2020: