barely

barely — adverb

1. used to say that something is true or happens, but only by a tiny margin — so cl

1.adverbB2
Definition

used to say that something is true or happens, but only by a tiny margin — so close to not being true or not happening that it is almost the opposite.

Example

Jin was so tired after the night shift that he could barely keep his eyes open.

can/could barely + verb showing extreme difficulty

The whisper from the back row was barely loud enough for Mr. Chen to hear.

barely + adjective phrase

Common collocations
  • can barely speak
  • barely audible
  • barely visible
  • barely enough
  • barely able to
Synonyms
  • hardly

    very close in meaning; 'hardly' is slightly more common in British English.

  • scarcely

    more formal and a little more literary than 'barely'.

  • just

    more positive in tone — focuses on success, while 'barely' stresses how close it was to failing.

Antonyms
  • easily

    opposite tone — without any difficulty.

  • comfortably

    with margin to spare, the reverse of a tight 'barely' margin.

Grammar Patterns

barely + verb

can barely + verb

Usage Note

Although 'barely' looks neutral in form, it carries a negative meaning, so the rest of the clause is treated as negative. Avoid pairing it with another negative word — 'I can't barely see' is wrong; say 'I can barely see' or 'I can hardly see'.

Common Mistakes

I can't barely hear you over the music.
I can barely hear you over the music.
'barely' already means 'almost not', so adding 'not' creates a double negative.
She barely never finishes her homework.
She hardly ever finishes her homework.
use 'hardly ever', not 'barely never'.

2. used with a past action to mean that almost no time passed before the next thing

2.adverbC1
Definition

used with a past action to mean that almost no time passed before the next thing happened — often paired with 'when' or 'before' to link two events.

Example

Sami had barely sat down at her desk when the fire alarm started ringing.

had barely + past participle + when + clause

We had barely finished dinner before the guests arrived for dessert.

had barely + past participle + before + clause

Common collocations
  • had barely sat down when
  • had barely finished when
  • had barely arrived before
  • had barely spoken when
Synonyms
  • just

    less dramatic; 'just' simply marks recency without the surprise tone.

  • no sooner

    stronger and more formal; usually triggers inversion ('No sooner had he sat down than...').

Grammar Patterns

barely + past time expression

barely + past participle + when...

Usage Note

Distinguish from sense 1: this use anchors a moment in time (often with past perfect 'had barely' plus 'when' or 'before'), not a degree of difficulty. If you cannot replace it with 'almost not', it is this time-sequence sense.

Common Mistakes

I barely arrived home, and then the storm started.
I had barely arrived home when the storm started.
this sense usually needs the past perfect plus 'when' or 'before'.

Word family

Synonym discussion

Sense: adverb/1

All four adverbs describe something that is true only by a small margin, but they differ in tone and register. 'Barely' stresses how close the action came to not happening at all and often suggests effort or strain — 'she could barely walk after the marathon'. 'Hardly' is the most common everyday choice and is interchangeable with 'barely' in most cases, though it pairs especially naturally with 'ever' and 'any' ('hardly ever', 'hardly any'). 'Scarcely' carries the same meaning but sounds more formal and is more typical of writing than speech ('he scarcely spoke during the meeting'). 'Just' is the most positive in tone — it confirms that something did succeed, with less emphasis on the difficulty: 'we just caught the last train' feels like good news, while 'we barely caught the last train' feels like a near miss.

barely ↗hardly ↗scarcelyjust ↗

Common collocations

Nouns

  • barely a whisper
  • barely a sound
  • barely a minute
  • barely a trace

Adverbs

  • barely ever
  • barely even

Phrases

  • barely enough to
  • barely able to
  • barely visible
  • barely audible
  • barely escape
  • barely make it

Prepositions

  • barely above
  • barely below
  • barely within

Etymology

Old EnglishMiddle EnglishModern English

'Barely' grew out of the Old English word 'bære', meaning 'naked' or 'uncovered', the same root that gives us the modern adjective 'bare'. The '-ly' ending was added in Middle English to turn it into an adverb, so the original sense was 'in a bare way' — that is, plainly or without anything extra. From 'plainly, simply' the meaning slowly narrowed to 'with nothing to spare', and by the 16th century 'barely' had taken on its modern sense of 'only just' or 'almost not at all'. The older 'plainly' meaning is now rare and survives only in formal or literary writing.