Definition of "scarcely" []

• By a small margin; barely: We scarcely made it in time. (adverb)
• Almost not; hardly: We scarcely ever used the reserve generator. (adverb)
• Certainly not: They could scarcely complain after such good treatment. (adverb)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "The participation of Hill and his artillery in the operation was so slight that his name scarcely appeared in reports of the day's operations."
• "The title scarcely gives an idea of the subject-matter of the poem."
• "Democ - racy was a term scarcely used before the French Revo - lution; by the beginning of the nineteenth century it had its firm adherents and its equally ardent enemies."