Adverb

(en adverb)

(modal) Probably not.

One could scarcely find any trout in the stream without the stocking program.

(modal) Certainly not.

One could scarcely expect the man to know how to fly a helicopter.

* 1842 , (William Godwin), ,

He did not enter upon the subject without being aware that government by its very nature counteracts the improvement of individual intellect; but, as the views he entertains in this particular are out of the common road, it is scarcely to be wondered at that he understood the proposition more completely as he proceeded, and saw more distinctly into the nature of the remedy.

* 1869 , , ,

But, of course, this weather had put a stop to every kind of movement; for even if men could have borne the cold, they could scarcely be brought to face the perils of the snow-drifts.

* 1898 , , ,

The planet Mars, I scarcely need remind the reader, revolves about the sun at a mean distance of 140,000,000 miles, and the light and heat it receives from the sun is barely half of that received by this world.

* 1914 , (Saki), ,

His clothes could scarcely be called shabby, at least they passed muster in the half-light, but one’s imagination could not have pictured the wearer embarking on the purchase of a half-crown box of chocolates or laying out ninepence on a carnation buttonhole.

(degree) Almost not at all; by a small margin.

* Washington Irving

He had scarcely finished, when the labourer arrived who had been sent for my ransom.

* 1875 December 7, , ,

In 1776 manufactories scarcely existed even in name in all this vast territory.

* 1887 , (Arthur Conan Doyle), (A Study in Scarlet) :

Scarcely had she got fairly into it, however, before the beasts closed in behind her, and she found herself completely embedded in the moving stream of fierce-eyed long-homed bullocks.

* {{quote-book, year=1905, author=

, title= , chapter=2 citation , passage=“Scarcely had Alice reached her twentieth birthday, than she gave her erstwhile fiancée [sic] his formal congé. […]”}}

* 1922 , (Margery Williams), (The Velveteen Rabbit)

That night, and for many nights after, the Velveteen Rabbit slept in the Boy’s bed. At first he found it rather uncomfortable, for the Boy hugged him very tight, and sometimes he rolled over on him, and sometimes he pushed him so far under the pillow that the Rabbit could scarcely breathe.

* 1963 , (Pierre Boulle), :

But we shall take scarcely more than two years to reach it, while we should have needed almost as much time to arrive in the region of Proxima Centauris.

* 1993 , , Joseph Jacobs (translator), The Art of Worldly Wisdom ,

Nature scarcely ever gives us the very best—for that we must have recourse to art.

Adverb

(-)

At no time; on no occasion; in no circumstance.

* 1634 , (w), (John Fletcher), , Act 2, Scene 4,

Why should I love this Gentleman? Tis odds / He never will affect me;

*

, title=(The Celebrity), chapter=1 , passage=In the old days, to my commonplace and unobserving mind, he gave no evidences of genius whatsoever. He never read me any of his manuscripts, […], and therefore my lack of detection of his promise may in some degree be pardoned.}}

* 1908 , (Lucy Maud Montgomery), , Chapter XXI: A New Departure in Flavorings,

"I never thought you were so fond of Mr. Phillips that you'd require two handkerchiefs to dry your tears just because he was going away," said Marilla.

* 1919 , B. G. Jefferis, J. L. Nichols, ,

Never speak of the symptoms of your patient in his presence, unless questioned by the doctor, whose orders you are always to obey implicitly .

Not at any other time; not on any other occasion; not previously.

* 1601 Novenber 30, (Elizabeth I of England), ,

There is no jewel, be it of never so rich a price, which I set before this jewel: I mean your love.

* 1813 , (Jane Austen), , Chapter 4,

"He is just what a young man ought to be," said she, "sensible, good-humoured, lively; and I never saw such happy manners!--so much ease, with such perfect good breeding!"

* 1908 , (Lucy Maud Montgomery), , Chapter XIII: The Delights of Anticipation,

I never saw such an infatuated man.

(colloquial) Negative particle (used to negate verbs in the simple past tense; also used absolutely ).