Barely (Adverb)
Meaning 1
Almost not; "he hardly ever goes fishing"; "he was scarce sixteen years old"; "they scarcely ever used the emergency generator"; "I can hardly hear what she is saying"; "she barely seemed to notice him"; "we were so far back in the theater, we could barely read the subtitles".
Examples
- The new employee barely knew how to use the software.
- She barely made it to the meeting on time due to the traffic.
- The old car barely started after sitting in the garage for months.
- The hikers were so exhausted they could barely put one foot in front of the other.
- The singer's voice was so soft that the audience could barely hear her.
Synonyms
Meaning 2
Only a very short time before; "we hardly knew them"; "had scarcely rung the bell when the door flew open"; "would have scarce arrived before she would have found some excuse to leave"- W.B.Yeats.
Examples
- The fire had barely died out before it flared back to life in the embers.
- The flowers had barely opened before a severe frost began to form.
- He barely laid the envelope on her doorstep before turning away hastily.
- I'd barely glanced in his direction when our eyes suddenly locked together.
- We barely touched on that difficult topic at our lunch together today.
Synonyms
Meaning 3
By a little; "I only just caught the bus"; "he finished the marathon in just under 3 hours"; "it was barely 5 a.m."; "the network has barely 5 percent of viewers"; "the batter just missed being hit".
Examples
- I was so tired that I barely stayed awake during the meeting.
- She finished the exam barely 30 seconds before time was up.
- It was barely sunrise when the fishermen set off to sea.
- The struggling restaurant has barely enough money to stay open.
- He was running so fast that he barely missed crashing into the pole.