Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adv. By a very little; hardly: could barely see the road in the fog.
- adv. In a scanty manner; sparsely: a barely furnished room.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- Nakedly; openly; without disguise or concealment.
- Scantily; poorly: as, a man barely clad, or a room barely furnished.
- Only just; no more than; with nothing over or to spare: as, she is barely sixteen.
- Merely; only.
Wiktionary
- adv. degree By a small margin.
- adv. degree Almost not at all.
- adv. archaic merely.
GNU Webster's 1913
- adv. Without covering; nakedly.
- adv. Without concealment or disguise.
- adv. Merely; only.
- adv. But just; without any excess; with nothing to spare (of quantity, time, etc.); hence, scarcely; hardly.
WordNet 3.0
- adv. in a sparse or scanty way
- adv. only a very short time before
Etymologies
- bare + -ly (Wiktionary)
Examples
“Haven't we all become narcissists to an extent that the term barely means anything?”
The Huffington Post: Heather Donahue: Sundance 2012: Sleepwalk With Me
“His eyes darkened, his expression barely controlled.”
““Ready,” T echoed, the word barely more than a rush of air.”
“Though the label barely survived the "grunge" era, its track record in indie rock remains strong.”
“The word barely scratches the surface where Lindy was concerned.”
“But can he really be called the world's greatest when his name barely registers in public consciousness outside his own country?”
“The people at our label barely even knew any of us in the band.”
“The word "barely" is often used to indicate that something just happened, as in: "I barely got out of the hospital.”
“** "The Sharpshooters" (a term barely known until nearly the CW) carrying rifles (while they show a doglock being held by a frontiersmen) ... and then claim they had the advantage of batonets”
“Before long it became a battle for second place, with one title barely beating out the others!”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘barely’.
-
hunting
crudely, unequivocal, obsolete, obscure, overtly, misdeed, shack, inherent, outcry, hefty, composed, poised and 318 more...
-
Daily We
proliferate, defunct, like-minded, like-minded people, barely, caution, emphasize, striking, emerging, increasingly, engage, exposure and 46 more...
-
Words from books I've read
These are some words I didn't know when I read and now I want to know!
Scribble, Newfangled, swift, swathe, budget, obstreperous, trickle, rank, covetous, scratch, hunch, dodge and 179 more...
-
Only (adverb)
Adverbs meaning only
-
Basic English Vocabulary
Very basic words for ESL students.
contemplate, container, consumer, consultant, consensus, conscious, conscience, connection, confusion, confront, conflict, confident and 4334 more...
-
Jacqueline's Words
glittery, horny, amazing, wanderlust, forlorn, lustily, nonchalant, cool, passive, submissive, roundabout, carousel and 558 more...
-
my dictionary
able, abnormally, abroad, absent, abstract, acceptable, acceptance, access, accessible, accession, according to, account and 4551 more...
-
The things they carried (List 2)
Listening to this as an audio book for the second time. Tim O'Brien uses simple words and phrases to great effect. Very few unfamilar and big words . The writing style reminds me of words from Joh...
The, Things, They, Carried, meant, fond, By necessity,, presented to him, far beyond, against the brick..., reaching, taut and 2940 more...
-
TT1 Lesson 9
windshield, wiper, smear, out, barely, slick, nervous, pull off, pager, page, problem, dough and 2 more...
-
TT3 Lesson 26
unbearable, barely, swollen, blood, bleed, shot, anesthetic, Novocaine, wear off, pill, pain pill, recover and 11 more...
-
TN9 Lesson 98
pain, mouth, sore, barely, swollen, tooth, ache, wisdom tooth, pull, have a tooth pulled, jaw, throb and 19 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for barely.
Comments
No comments yet...
Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.