Library / English Dictionary

SCARCELY

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (adverb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Only a very short time before

Example:

would have scarce arrived before she would have found some excuse to leave

Synonyms:

barely; hardly; just; scarce; scarcely

Classified under:

Adverbs

Sense 2

Meaning:

Almost not

Example:

we were so far back in the theater, we could barely read the subtitles

Synonyms:

barely; hardly; scarce; scarcely

Classified under:

Adverbs

Pertainym:

scarce (deficient in quantity or number compared with the demand)

Credits

 Context examples: 

Scarcely had we passed the heads before the land closed around us.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

He saw these pictures, but he was scarcely conscious of them—no more so than if they had been dreams.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

I scarcely know where to begin.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

It could scarcely be called a happening, when, at the age of twenty-five, she accompanied her mistress on a bit of travel to the United States.

(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)

Mr. Darcy is impatient to see his sister; and, to confess the truth, we are scarcely less eager to meet her again.

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)

Music seems scarcely to attract him, and though he admires Elinor's drawings very much, it is not the admiration of a person who can understand their worth.

(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)

He could not but observe, however, that as he placed her down her knees seemed to fail her, and she could scarcely prop herself up with her staff.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

At first, some effort was needed, and he had to make many passes; but now, she seems to yield at once, as if by habit, and scarcely any action is needed.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

The phaeton was waiting, but we had scarcely started when some fellow seized the horses’ heads, and a couple of ruffians attacked us.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

It seems scarcely a house.

(The Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson)