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scarcely

/ˈskɛɹsli/adverb2 syllables

Scarcely means: only a very short time before.

Synonyms for scarcely5

adverb, as in only a very short time before

barely, hardly, just, scarce

adverb, as in almost not

hardly, barely, scarce

also used for scarcely

only just

Includes material from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.

What does scarcely mean?2

adverb

1

only a very short time before“we hardly knew them”

2

almost not“he hardly ever goes fishing”

Definitions from the Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Scarcely in a sentence

  • She had scarcely started reading the book, when someone knocked at the door.monahxo
  • He scarcely seems to care for me, does he?unknown
  • After the disaster, there was scarcely any water left on the island.CK
  • There are scarcely any flowers in our garden.CM
  • Scarcely had the rain stopped before a rainbow appeared.shekitten
  • We had scarcely returned when it began raining.CM
  • His home planet was scarcely any larger than a house!carlosalberto
  • Scarcely had the market opened when the fire broke out.AlanF_US

Sentences from Tatoeba, CC BY 2.0 FR, credited to their authors.