barely

Meaning

1. By a small margin.
2. Almost not at all.
3. merely.

Synonyms

hardly

scarcely

just

with difficulty

only just

narrowly

just barely

almost

slightly

scarce

by inches

scantily

only

nearly

merely

weakly

by a hair’s breadth

by a whisker

as soon as

penuriously

practically

rarely

seldom

shamefacedly

slowly

small

snugly

somehow

step by step

unassumingly

unpretentiously

with effort

by small degrees

not quite

scraping by

by a nose

about

by a nose length

about to

at last

at length

austerely

by a hair

edgewise

eventually

exactly

finally

gradually

inadequately

lastly

marginally

meagerly

meagrely

meanly

modestly

no more than

Hyphenated as

bare‧ly

Pronounced as (IPA)

/ˈbɛə(ɹ).li/

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English: barely

Cognate with Danish: bare

Cognate with Norwegian: bare

In summary

From Middle English barely, baarly, barly, bareliche, equivalent to bare + -ly. Compare Danish bare (“only, just”), Norwegian bare (“only, just”).

Sentences

Price only barely managed to secure Davis's permission to return to Missouri-minus his troops .

His nickname of Tich alluded to his height of barely five feet .