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[ adverb ] by a small margin
Examples "they could barely hear the speaker" "we hardly knew them" "just missed being hit" "had scarcely rung the bell when the door flew open" "would have scarce arrived before she would have found some excuse to leave"- W.B.Yeats Used in print (The Dallas Morning News,...)Moritz was bothered during the first two games this year by a pulled muscle in the thigh of his right ( kicking ) leg and , as a result , several of his successful conversions have gone barely far enough . (Clayton C. Barbeau, The Ikon....)They were poems in a strange language , of which he could barely touch a meaning - enough to make his being ache with the desire for the fullness he sensed there . (John Dos Passos, Midcentury....)My eyes were so bleary I could barely see him but there he was , a little smooth olivefaced guy in a new spring overcoat and a taffy colored fedora . (Bruce Palmer, "My Brother's Keeper", Many Are...)The soldier answered in a curious , muffled voice , his lips barely moving . (Frieda Arkin, "The Light of the Sea," in The...)The girl , her first , she barely remembered . |
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[ adverb ] n a sparse or scanty way
Synonyms Examples "a barely furnished room" Used in print (James Thurber, "The Future, If Any, of Comedy,"...)`` Just barely '' , he said , and repeated his paraphrase : (Leo Lemon, "Catch Up With" and "Something to...)For_example , to move ( as the score requires ) from the lowest F major register up_to a barely audible N minor in four seconds , not skipping , at_the_same_time , even one of the 407 fingerings , seems a feat too absurd to consider , and it is to the flautist 's credit that he remained silent throughout the passage . |
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