Barely meaning

What does “barely” mean? Definitions, examples, synonyms and opposites.

“barely” is an adverb with 3 meanings. Its most common meaning is: only a very short time before.

barely

only a very short time before
“we hardly knew them”
“had scarcely rung the bell when the door flew open”
Synonymshardly just scarcely scarce
almost not
“he hardly ever goes fishing”
“he was scarce sixteen years old”
Synonymshardly scarcely scarce
by a little
“I only just caught the bus”
“he finished the marathon in just under 3 hours”
Synonymsjust

Source: WordNet 3.1, Princeton University