Hardly vs Dearth - What's the difference?
hardly | dearth |
(manner, obsolete) Firmly, vigorously, with strength or exertion.
*, Folio Society, 2006, vol.1, p.148:
(manner, archaic) Harshly, severely.
With difficulty.
*, Folio Society, 2006, vol.1, p.234:
* 1977 , , The Honourable Schoolboy , Folio Society 2010, p. 40:
(degree) Barely, only just, almost not.
* {{quote-news, year=2011, date=November 3, author=David Ornstein, work=BBC Sport
, title= * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-07-06, volume=408, issue=8843, page=68, magazine=(The Economist)
, title= Not really.
(rfc-sense) A period or condition when food is rare and hence expensive; famine.
(by extension) Scarcity; a lack or short supply.
* 1608 , William Shakespeare, King Lear :
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(obsolete) Dearness; the quality of being rare or costly.
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As an adverb hardly
is (manner|obsolete) firmly, vigorously, with strength or exertion.As an interjection hardly
is not really.As a noun dearth is
a period or condition when food is rare and hence expensive; famine.hardly
English
Adverb
(en-adv)- Let him hardly be possest with an honest curiositie to search out the nature and causes of all things.
- And what gentle flame soever doth warme the heart of young virgins, yet are they hardly drawne to leave and forgoe their mothers, to betake them to their husbands.
- While in Chelsea, Anne Smiley pined, taking very hardly to her unaccustomed role of wife abandoned.
Macc Tel-Aviv 1-2 Stoke, passage=With this the second of three games in seven days for Stoke, it was hardly surprising to see nine changes from the side that started against Newcastle in the Premier League on Monday.}}
The rise of smart beta, passage=Investors face a quandary. Cash offers a return of virtually zero in many developed countries; government-bond yields may have risen in recent weeks but they are still unattractive. Equities have suffered two big bear markets since 2000 and are wobbling again. It is hardly surprising that pension funds, insurers and endowments are searching for new sources of return.}}
Usage notes
In the sense "barely", it is grammatically a negative word. It therefore collocates with ever rather than never. * Compare example sentence with I almost never watch televisionSynonyms
* barely, just, only just, scarcelyInterjection
(en interjection)- I think the Beatles are a really overrated band. &
- x2015; Hardly !
Statistics
* English degree adverbsdearth
English
Noun
(en noun)- I promise you, the effects he writes of succeed unhappily: as of unnaturalness between the child and the parent; death, dearth , dissolutions of ancient amities; divisions in state, menaces and maledictions against king and nobles; needless diffidences, banishment of friends, dissipation of cohorts, nuptial breaches, and I know not what.