as in slightly
by a very small margin
we barely made it to the church on time
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Recent Examples of barely
Prior to Oasis reuniting for a massive world tour last year, the brothers were barely on speaking terms, let alone ready to sit for an interview together.
—
Brian Welk, IndieWire, 8 May 2026
Designer Samantha Toft barely gets a moment to put her scissors down.
—Mike Sullivan, CBS News, 8 May 2026
Chadwick said thoughts about a replacement have barely begun.
—David Garrick, San Diego Union-Tribune, 7 May 2026
Meanwhile, the Rockies barely laid a glove on New York starter Freddy Peralta, who continued his dominance at Coors Field.
—Patrick Saunders, Denver Post, 7 May 2026
See All Example Sentences for barely
Brian Welk, IndieWire, 8 May 2026
Designer Samantha Toft barely gets a moment to put her scissors down.
—Mike Sullivan, CBS News, 8 May 2026
Chadwick said thoughts about a replacement have barely begun.
—David Garrick, San Diego Union-Tribune, 7 May 2026
Meanwhile, the Rockies barely laid a glove on New York starter Freddy Peralta, who continued his dominance at Coors Field.
—Patrick Saunders, Denver Post, 7 May 2026
See All Example Sentences for barely
Recent Examples of Synonyms for barely
Adverb
-
Many eclipse chasers ignored South America's total solar eclipse in 2019, which was short and predicted by some to be cloudy, for a slightly longer, supposedly clearer one in 2020 in almost the same place.—
Jamie Carter,
Space.com,
10 May 2026
-
Later, the Moon squares the Sun in your sign, making pacing feel slightly strained.—
Tarot.com,
Hartford Courant,
9 May 2026
Adverb
-
When the king talked about his Christian faith, GOP lawmakers were rowdier than Democrats, many of whom offered just tepid applause.—
Kathryn Palmer,
USA Today,
29 Apr. 2026
-
Then, not only that, just to be able to cash in, that’s like the next step there.—
Abbey Mastracco,
New York Daily News,
29 Apr. 2026
Adverb
-
Instead of focusing narrowly on tiny frequency bands, future surveys may need to examine broader wavelength ranges across large populations of nearby, Sun-like stars.—
Rupendra Brahambhatt,
Interesting Engineering,
3 May 2026
-
Before voters narrowly approved extending the tax in 2024, most of the current commissioners said the tax should not go to a new stadium.—
Nicolas Villamil,
The Orlando Sentinel,
3 May 2026
Adverb
-
At the time, Bores could hardly be blamed for steering conversations to the other planks of his platform.—
Gideon Lewis-Kraus,
New Yorker,
7 May 2026
-
That’s hardly the only measure that’s gotten a cold reception outside the White House.—
Bloomberg,
Oc Register,
7 May 2026
Cite this Entry
“Barely.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/barely. Accessed 10 May. 2026.
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