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# scarcely

adverb (scarcely)

«scarcely» in the English dictionary: everyday — its meanings, how the lessons use it, and examples, each with its tree on Mova.

## Everyday

1. Scarcely means hardly, almost not at all: «I could scarcely see» means I could only just see. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/scarcely/#m1)
2. Scarcely … when means that one thing happened almost straight after another. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/scarcely/#m2)
3. Scarcely can mean surely not: «You can scarcely blame him». [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/scarcely/#m3)

### In the lessons

In stories and the formal voice it shows something only just happened or almost did not happen. In reading tests pupils must notice it is a negative word: «scarcely any» means almost none. Phrases: «scarcely any», «scarcely ever», «could scarcely believe», «had scarcely … when».

### Examples

- It was so foggy that we could scarcely see the road. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/scarcely/#x1)
- There was scarcely any milk left. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/scarcely/#x2)
- I could scarcely believe my eyes. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/scarcely/#x3)
- We had scarcely sat down when the fire alarm rang. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/scarcely/#x4)
- She scarcely ever watches TV. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/scarcely/#x5)
- The baby is scarcely a week old. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/scarcely/#x6)
- You can scarcely blame him for being tired. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/scarcely/#x7)
- I scarcely know how I feel." [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/scarcely/#x8)

### Note

Adverb from «scarce». It already has a negative meaning, so do not add «not»: «I could scarcely hear», not «I couldn't scarcely hear». In word problems «scarcely any» means almost zero. Formal inverted order: «Scarcely had we arrived when …».

## On Mova

- [Trees and pragmatics of «scarcely» in the school dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/scarcely/): every meaning and example parsed by Mova, with its dependency tree and frames.
- [«scarcely» in the school dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/school/w/scarcely.html) on Mova free.