scarcely

adverb scarce·ly \ ˈskers-lē \

|Updated on: 14 Jul 2018

Examples: scarcely in a Sentence

Definition of scarcely

1 a : by a narrow margin : only just

had scarcely rung the bell when the door flew open
—Agnes S. Turnbull

b : almost not

could scarcely see for the fog

2 a : certainly not

could scarcely interfere

b : probably not

there could scarcely have been found a leader better equipped
—V. L. Parrington

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Examples of scarcely in a Sentence

He could scarcely control his joy.
Scarcely a day goes by when they don't see or talk to each other.
He had scarcely enough money.
This is scarcely a time to laugh.
I could scarcely tell them they were wrong.

Recent Examples of scarcely from the Web

The discovery of several unexpected uses for detachable limbs is scarcely the least ingenious of this movie’s borrowing-and-repurposing gambits.

— justin chang, latimes.com, "Dwayne Johnson scales the heights in the thrillingly dumb 'Skyscraper'," 11 July 2018
With a Republican majority of 51-49, Democrats can scarcely afford to lose any incumbents to have any hope of retaking the Senate.

— USA TODAY, "'Pivot counties' will be key in fight for Senate control," 10 July 2018
In great-power terms, the Helsinki summit, by contrast, is scarcely about Russia at all.

— The Economist, "The Trump-Putin summit in Helsinki," 5 July 2018
The boys' friends have scarcely heard of Johnny Bench.

— jon wertheim, SI.com, "Johnny Bench Is Already a Hall-of-Famer, But He's Looking For a New Distinction," 5 July 2018
The Park Service and Save the Redwoods League, a San Francisco nonprofit devoted to protecting and restoring redwoods, scarcely acknowledge the tree’s existence.

— robert earle howells, SFChronicle.com, "Should we hide the locations of Earth’s greatest trees?," 3 July 2018
The giant four-engine Handley Page bombers, destined to reduce German industry to rubble, had scarcely been rolled onto the tarmac when the Armistice was declared.

— paul kennedy, WSJ, "The RAF at 100: Masters of the Skies," 29 June 2018
This sort of inflation is a natural linguistic phenomenon that regularly happens to words, like how awesome was once reserved for that which truly struck awe into a quavering heart and is now scarcely more than a verbal thumbs up.

— julie beck, The Atlantic, "Exclamation Point Inflation," 27 June 2018
Yet the hillsides had scarcely begun to gain notoriety before massive restrictions were instated on their planting.

— esther mobley, San Francisco Chronicle, "The rise of the Red Hills of Lake County," 1 June 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'scarcely.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.