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barely

American  
[bair-lee] / ˈbɛər li /

adverb

  1. only just; scarcely; no more than; almost not.

    He had barely enough money to pay for the car.

  2. without disguise or concealment; openly.

    They gave the facts to him barely.

  3. scantily; meagerly; sparsely.

  4. Archaic. merely.

barely British  
/ ˈbɛəlɪ /

adverb

  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

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Usage

See hardly.

Etymology

Origin of barely

First recorded before 950; Middle English; Old English bærlīce; bare 1, -ly

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.