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Scarce vs Hardly - What's the difference?

scarce | hardly |

As adverbs the difference between scarce and hardly

is that scarce is scarcely, only just while hardly is (manner|obsolete) firmly, vigorously, with strength or exertion.

As an adjective scarce

is uncommon, rare; difficult to find; insufficient to meet a demand.

As an interjection hardly is

not really.

scarce

English

(wikipedia scarce)

Adjective

(er)
  • Uncommon, rare; difficult to find; insufficient to meet a demand.
  • * (John Locke)
    • You tell him silver is scarcer now in England, and therefore risen one fifth in value.
  • * , chapter=3
    • , title= Mr. Pratt's Patients , passage=My hopes wa'n't disappointed. I never saw clams thicker than they was along them inshore flats. I filled my dreener in no time, and then it come to me that 'twouldn't be a bad idee to get a lot more, take 'em with me to Wellmouth, and peddle 'em out. Clams was fairly scarce over that side of the bay and ought to fetch a fair price.}}
  • Scantily supplied (with); deficient (in); used with of .
  • * (John Milton)
    • A region scarce of prey.

    Adverb

    (-)
  • Scarcely, only just.
  • * Milton
    • With a scarce well-lighted flame.
  • * 1854 , (Edgar Allen Poe), (The Raven):
    • And so faintly you came tapping, tapping at my chamber door, That I scarce was sure that I heard you [...].
  • * 1898 , , (Moonfleet) Chapter 4:
    • Yet had I scarce set foot in the passage when I stopped, remembering how once already this same evening I had played the coward, and run home scared with my own fears.
  • * 1931 , William Faulkner, Sanctuary , Vintage 1993, p. 122:
    • Upon the barred and slitted wall the splotched shadow of the heaven tree shuddered and pulsed monstrously in scarce any wind.

    See also

    * make oneself scarce

    Anagrams

    *

    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