scarcely
adv. degreeadv. almost not at all. You use it to say that something is only just true or that there is very little of something.
adv. only just; almost not. Often used to emphasize that a quantity is insufficient or that an action is barely achieved.
I could scarcely believe the news.
The room was so dark that I could scarcely see the person sitting across from me.
He had scarcely finished his dinner when the phone rang, forcing him to abandon his quiet evening for an urgent meeting at the office.
From Middle English scarcely, scarsly, scarsely, scarsliche, scarseliche, equivalent to scarce + -ly.
Typically placed before the main verb or adjective it modifies. When used at the start of a sentence for literary emphasis, it triggers subject-auxiliary inversion (e.g., 'Scarcely had I...').
I scarcely don't know himI scarcely know himScarcely has a negative meaning, so using it with 'not' or 'don't' creates an incorrect double negative.