English Meaning & Definitions
Almost never; on very rare occasions.
- “She is so busy with work that she hardly ever has time to read a book.”
- “We live just down the street, but we hardly ever see them anymore.”
English Synonyms & Near Equivalents
English Antonyms & Opposites
Comprehensive Thesaurus Breakdown
Compare formal, informal, literary synonyms and register nuances for “hardly ever”.
The phrase combines 'hardly', derived from Middle English 'hardliche' (meaning severely, with difficulty, or scarcely, from 'hard' + '-ly'), and 'ever', from Old English 'ǣfre' (meaning always or at any time). By the late medieval and early modern periods, the pairing came to function as an adverbial idiom denoting extreme infrequency.
Think of it as the opposite of 'almost always': if 'ever' means at any time, 'hardly ever' means you have to struggle to remember the last time it happened.
Frequently Asked Questions About “hardly ever”
1. What is the meaning of “hardly ever” in English?
In English, hardly ever (adverb) is defined as: “Almost never; on very rare occasions.”.
2. How do you use “hardly ever” in a sentence?
“She is so busy with work that she hardly ever has time to read a book.”
3. What are English synonyms of “hardly ever”?
4. What is the etymology and word origin of “hardly ever”?
The phrase combines 'hardly', derived from Middle English 'hardliche' (meaning severely, with difficulty, or scarcely, from 'hard' + '-ly'), and 'ever', from Old English 'ǣfre' (meaning always or at any time). By the late medieval and early modern periods, the pairing came to function as an adverbial idiom denoting extreme infrequency.
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A specific duration of time equal to one hour and forty-six minutes and twelve seconds.
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A specific duration of time equivalent to one hour and forty-six minutes.