barely
Language: English
Part of speech: adv
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈbɛə(ɹ).li/
ipa: /ˈbɛɹ.li/
rhymes: -ɛə(ɹ)li
Forms: form: more barely
form: most barely
Etymology: From Middle English baarly, bareliche, barely, barly, from Old English bærlīċe, equivalent to bare + -ly. Compare Danish bare (“only, just”), Norwegian bare (“only, just”).
Senses: examples: text: I barely completed my homework. However, I got a score of 5 for it.
text: It becomes, therefore, no inconsiderable part of science barely to know the different operations of mind,
ref: 1748, [David Hume], Philosophical Essays Concerning Human Understanding, London: […] A[ndrew] Millar, […], →OCLC, part VIII:
text: 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!’
text: As our train to Paris dashed through the labyrynthine flyovers at Porchefontaine, barely a mile from Versailles, the 75 m.p.h. limit was already almost attained.
ref: 1961 November, H. G. Ellison, P. G. Barlow, “Journey through France: Part One”, in Trains Illustrated, page 670:
qualifier: degree
glosses: By a small margin..
examples: text: The plane is so far away now I can barely see it.
text: Yes, it is barely visible.
text: 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.
ref: 2011 October 23, Phil McNulty, “Man Utd 1 - 6 Man City”, in BBC Sport:
qualifier: degree
glosses: Almost not at all.
examples: text: I barely got to the store.
glosses: Recently, just now.
examples: text: Now that fire do's not alwayes barely separate the Elementary parts, but sometimes at least alter also the Ingredients of Bodies […]
ref: 1661, Robert Boyle, The Sceptical Chymist, page 29:
glosses: Merely.
examples: text: Firſt here is the Reſurrection of our Saviour barely and poſitively affirmed, whom God hath raiſed up.
ref: a. 1671, John Hacket, “The First Sermon upon the Resurrection”, in A Century of Sermons upon Several Remarkable Subjects: […], London: […] Andrew Clark for Robert Scott, […], published 1675, page 549:
text: And the same feeling appears in the following reign; in 1380 the commons petitioned against the plurality of wars; from time to time we have seen them vigorously endeavouring to limit, direct, and audit the expenditure on the wars, and even attempting to draw distinctions between the national and royal interests in the maintenance of the fortresses of Gascony and Brittany; but when the question is put barely before them they avoid committing themselves.
ref: 1875, William Stubbs, “Royal Prerogative and Parliamentary Authority”, in The Constitutional History of England in Its Origin and Development (Clarendon Press Series), volume II, Oxford, Oxfordshire: At the Clarendon Press, page 602:
text: Remember, I haven’t tried to embroider; I’m just laying the facts barely before you—as barely as I can—to make what you please out of.
ref: 1918 October, Arthur Johnson, “The Little Family”, in Harper’s Monthly Magazine, volume CXXXVII, number 821, New York, N.Y.; London: Harper & Brothers, page 730, column 2:
text: The term “brief” may appear somewhat inappropriate, as the legal brief is often a bulky document, but the sense is rather that the ideas are stated barely, without elaboration or persuasive enforcement.
ref: 1920, John Mantle Clapp, “Clear Thinking—Testing Your Thought”, in Talking Business (Language for Men of Affairs; I), New York, N.Y.: The Ronald Press Company, page 432:
text: Religion intervenes in the sense that it offers precepts, a code of behavior, for the guidance of believers; poetry, if written in terms of ideals and attitudes which are encompassed by religion, offers not precepts but a dramatic presentation of values. The precepts are stated barely and directly.
ref: 1948, William Van O’Connor, “The Employment of Myths”, in Sense and Sensibility in Modern Poetry, Chicago, Ill.: The University of Chicago Press, page 15:
glosses: Openly, clearly, plainly.
Synonyms: sense: degree
word: hardly
sense: degree
word: scarcely
sense: barely, almost not or not quite
word: hardly
sense: barely, almost not or not quite
word: just
sense: barely, almost not or not quite
word: only just
sense: barely, almost not or not quite
word: scarcely