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Hardly vs Heavy - What's the difference?

hardly | heavy |

As adverbs the difference between hardly and heavy

is that hardly is (manner|obsolete) firmly, vigorously, with strength or exertion while heavy is heavily.

As an interjection hardly

is not really.

As an adjective heavy is

(of a physical object) having great weight or heavy can be having the heaves.

As a noun heavy is

a villain or bad guy; the one responsible for evil or aggressive acts.

As a verb heavy is

to make heavier.

hardly

English

Adverb

(en-adv)
  • (manner, obsolete) Firmly, vigorously, with strength or exertion.
  • *, Folio Society, 2006, vol.1, p.148:
    • Let him hardly be possest with an honest curiositie to search out the nature and causes of all things.
  • (manner, archaic) Harshly, severely.
  • With difficulty.
  • *, Folio Society, 2006, vol.1, p.234:
    • 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.
  • * 1977 , , The Honourable Schoolboy , Folio Society 2010, p. 40:
    • While in Chelsea, Anne Smiley pined, taking very hardly to her unaccustomed role of wife abandoned.
  • (degree) Barely, only just, almost not.
  • * {{quote-news, year=2011, date=November 3, author=David Ornstein, work=BBC Sport
    • , title= 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.}}
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-07-06, volume=408, issue=8843, page=68, magazine=(The Economist)
    • , title= 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 television

    Synonyms

    * barely, just, only just, scarcely

    Interjection

    (en interjection)
  • Not really.
    • I think the Beatles are a really overrated band. &
  • x2015; Hardly !

    • Statistics

    * English degree adverbs

    heavy

    English

    Etymology 1

    From (etyl) hevy, .

    Adjective

    (er)
  • (of a physical object) Having great weight.
  • *
    • , title=(The Celebrity), chapter=2 , passage=Sunning himself on the board steps, I saw for the first time Mr. Farquhar Fenelon Cooke.
  • (of a topic) Serious, somber.
  • Not easy to bear; burdensome; oppressive.
    • heavy yokes, expenses, undertakings, trials, news, etc.
  • * Bible, 1 Sam. v. 6
    • The hand of the Lord was heavy upon them of Ashdod.
  • * Shakespeare
    • The king himself hath a heavy reckoning to make.
  • * Wordsworth
    • Sent hither to impart the heavy news.
  • (British, slang, dated) Good.
  • Profound.
  • (of a rate of flow) High, great.
  • (slang) Armed.
  • (music) Louder, more distorted.
  • (of weather) Hot and humid.
  • (of a person) Doing the specified activity more intensely than most other people.
  • (of food) High in fat or protein; difficult to digest.
  • Of great force, power, or intensity; deep or intense.
  • * 1918 , (Edgar Rice Burroughs), Chapter IV
    • The surf was not heavy , and there was no undertow, so we made shore easily, effecting an equally easy landing.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-07-20, volume=408, issue=8845, magazine=(The Economist)
    • , title= Out of the gloom , passage=[Rural solar plant] schemes are of little help to industry or other heavy users of electricity. Nor is solar power yet as cheap as the grid. For all that, the rapid arrival of electric light to Indian villages is long overdue. When the national grid suffers its next huge outage, as it did in July 2012 when hundreds of millions were left in the dark, look for specks of light in the villages.}}
  • Laden to a great extent.
  • Laden with that which is weighty; encumbered; burdened; bowed down, either with an actual burden, or with grief, pain, disappointment, etc.
  • * Chapman
    • The heavy [sorrowing] nobles all in council were.
  • * Shakespeare
    • A light wife doth make a heavy husband.
  • Slow; sluggish; inactive; or lifeless, dull, inanimate, stupid.
    • a heavy gait, looks, manners, style, etc.
    a heavy writer or book
  • * Shakespeare
    • whilst the heavy ploughman snores
  • * Dryden
    • a heavy , dull, degenerate mind
  • * Bible, Is. lix. 1
    • Neither [is] his ear heavy , that it cannot hear.
  • Impeding motion; cloggy; clayey.
    • a heavy''' road; a '''heavy soil
  • Not raised or leavened.
    • heavy bread
  • Having much body or strength; said of wines or spirits.
  • (obsolete) With child; pregnant.
    • Synonyms
    * sweer/swear
    Derived terms
    (heavy) * heavily * heaviness * heavy-armed * heavy artillery * heavy chain * heavy-coated * heavy cream * heavy drinker * heavy-duty * heavy-footed * heavy goods * heavy-handed * heavyhead * heavy-headed * heavy heart * heavy-hearted * heavy hitter * heavy hydrogen * heavy industry * heavy ion * heavyish * heavy-laden * heavy-lift * heavy lifting * heavy metal * heavy oil * heavy particle * heavy roller * heavy sea * heavy-set/heavyset * heavy sink * heavy spar * heavy tail * heavy water * heavyweight * heavy wet * HGV * hot and heavy * semi-heavy * top-heavy

    Adverb

    (en adverb)
  • heavily
    • heavy laden with their sins
  • (India, colloquial) very

    • Noun

    (en-noun)
  • A villain or bad guy; the one responsible for evil or aggressive acts.
    • With his wrinkled, uneven face, the actor always seemed to play the heavy in films.
  • (slang) A doorman, bouncer or bodyguard.
    • A fight started outside the bar but the heavies came out and stopped it.
  • (aviation) A large multi-engined aircraft.
    • The term heavy normally follows the call-sign when used by air traffic controllers.

    Verb

  • To make heavier.
  • To sadden.
  • (Australia, New Zealand, informal) To use power and/or wealth to exert influence on, e.g., governments or corporations; to pressure.
    • The union was well known for the methods it used to heavy many businesses.
  • * 1985 , Australian House of Representatives, House of Representatives Weekly Hansard , Issue 11, Part 1, page 1570,
    • the Prime Minister sought to evade the simple fact that he heavied Mr Reid to get rid of Dr Armstrong.
  • * 2001 , Finola Moorhead, Darkness More Visible , Spinifex Press, Australia, page 557,
    • But he is on the wrong horse, heavying me. My phone?s tapped. Well, he won?t find anything.
  • * 2005 , David Clune, Ken Turner (editors), The Premiers of New South Wales, 1856-2005 , Volume 3: 1901-2005, page 421,
    • But the next two days of the Conference also produced some very visible lobbying for the succession and apparent heavying of contenders like Brereton, Anderson and Mulock - much of it caught on television.

    Etymology 2

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • Having the heaves.
    • a heavy horse

    Statistics

    * 1000 English basic words