barely

«barely» in Mova's school dictionary: Only just; almost not (I barely caught the bus) — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 3 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

part of speech

adverb (barely)

meaning for a pupil

1) Only just; almost not (I barely caught the bus). tree →

2) Hardly at all; very little (She barely ate). tree →

3) Only a very short time before (We had barely sat down when the phone rang). tree →

sense in the lessons

In maths and everyday life it tells you an amount is just enough or just over a limit: «barely 10» means only about 10, possibly a little less or exactly. In stories it shows a narrow escape: «barely escaped». Phrases: barely enough, barely noticed, barely awake.

examples

• I barely finished the test in time. tree →
• There was barely enough cake for everyone. tree →
• He could barely see through the fog. tree →
• We barely knew each other then. tree →
• The puppy was barely a week old. tree →
• She barely passed, with 50 out of 100. tree →
• I'd barely got home when it started to rain. tree →
• They made their rush, and I barely escaped from them. tree →

note

Barely is negative in meaning, so do not add «not»: say «I could barely hear», not «I couldn't barely hear». Not related to «bare» meaning naked in sense, though same root. In word problems, «barely more than 20» means just over 20.

In the corpora

• The minimum payment barely covers the interest, so paying only the minimum keeps a debt going for years.
• Half-siblings can be close or barely know each other.
• Fresh sweat barely smells; the stink comes from bacteria feeding on sweat in a warm closed bag.

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «barely» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.