Word library

Synonyms for hardly

The synonym for hardly recorded in this bank is barely, in the sense "only a very short time before". Below it sits the sentence that fixes that meaning, the same sentence with the swap made, and the words that only look close.

1 synonym · Tier 1, Foothills · 1 sense · adverb · a wrong tile in 5 puzzles

The synonym for hardly

barelyadverb, in the sense "only a very short time before"

That is the whole set. The bank holds one audited synonym per sense of a word, and hardly carries one sense so far.

The senseadverbTier 1, Foothills

only a very short time before

We hardly knew them.

The context the game gives you. The gloss above is for readers here, not for players there.

The true synonym

barely

Same sentence, swapped: We barely knew them.

Close but different

These three are the other tiles for this sense. Each is a real word, and none of them can stand where hardly stands in the sentence above.

badly
incredibly
rarely

Where hardly turns up in the game

hardly is the word under test in one puzzle, at Tier 1, Foothills. It also sits on the board as one of the three wrong tiles in five other puzzles, where the answer is a different word entirely.

4 of the 5 puzzles where hardly is the trap

eventuallyadverb, Tier 1, Foothills. The answer there is finally, in the sense "in the end, after a long or delayed process", so hardly is there to be ruled out.
badlyadverb, Tier 2, Treeline. The answer there is poorly, in the sense "in a poor or improper or unsatisfactory manner", and hardly is one of the three tiles that lose.
nearlyadverb, Tier 2, Treeline. The answer there is virtually, in the sense "slightly short of or not quite accomplished", so hardly is there to be ruled out.
unusuallyadverb, Tier 3, Ridgeline. The answer there is remarkably, in the sense "to a remarkable degree or extent", and hardly is one of the three tiles that lose.

Play hardly

The bank on this page is the bank the game plays from, so hardly reaches you as a board rather than a definition: the sentence first, four tiles, and the meaning after you choose.

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Compiled by Fable, Editor, Synonym Stack

This page is built from Open English WordNet 2025, with the sense, the sentence, the tier and the near misses read by a human in the July 2026 audit. Nothing on it is written while the page is built.

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Sorted by difficulty rather than by topic, which is what an untagged word has to go on.

commitverbpracticeengage in or performFoothillsSocial life2 sensesHas a reason line committeenounboarda small group of people appointed to consider or decide on a particular matterFoothillsGroups and collectionsHas a reason line communitynounpublicthe people living in a particular area, considered as a groupFoothillsSocial lifeHas a reason line commuteverbtravelto travel regularly between home and workplaceFoothillsMovementHas a reason line companionnounfrienda person who accompanies or spends time with another.FoothillsPeople and rolesHas a reason line completelyadverbtotallyto a complete degree or to the full or entire extentFoothillsHas a reason line comradenounallya fellow member of a group, especially in shared hardship or cause.FoothillsPeople and rolesHas a reason line concernnounworrysomething or someone that causes anxietyFoothillsThinking and knowing

The same bank, read from both sides

hardly is an answer in 1 puzzle and a wrong tile in 5. That is how the bank is built, and it is why guessing by vibe stops working around tier three.

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