Barely Definition & Meaning

American

British

Usage

Etymology

Examples

Related Words

Synonyms 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

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

"We were barely getting by as it is. I don't know how people will manage," she told AFP at a Cairo market.

From Barron's

As they started the business, Fink and Koh headed off to college—but just barely.

From The Wall Street Journal

It couldn’t fly—it could barely even hop.

From Literature

I barely said anything to my parents, even though they asked me a few times what was going on.

From Literature

With the Iranian internet barely functioning and security extremely tight, there is relatively little independent user generated content being posted from within Iran.

From Barron's

Related Words

• almost
• hardly
• scarcely

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.