scarcely
Scarcely means just before, hardly, or “almost not.” If you had scarcely made it to bed when the sun started to rise, you are probably pretty tired by now.
Scarcely may have just made it in the nick of time and by the skin of its teeth, but it’s here now, even if it is just barely hanging on — which means you can scarcely accuse it of not showing up. Though an ly adverb, scarcely is unusual in that it is not so much a descriptor of its root adjective as a synonym of the adverb form scarce. If you scarcely believe me, look it up for yourself!
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only a very short time before
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almost not“they scarcely ever used the emergency generator”synonyms: hardly
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Vocabulary lists containing scarcely
The speaker of Dickinson’s poem imagines riding in a carriage with Death and viewing scenes out of the window. Read the text here.
The Monroe Doctrine was a speech given by President James Monroe in December 1823. A doctrine is a rule or principle, so the title means Monroe’s principle. This principle states that the United States promises to respect any colonies already held by European powers in the Americas but will not permit any new colonies to be taken. In return the United States promises not to seek any colonies in Europe. At the time the U.S. was a weak nation and the doctrine was largely ignored. Later, however, when the U.S. became a world power, it was used to prevent European nations from taking over countries in Latin America.
Inspired by her father's fantastical stories, Minli sets off on a journey to change her family's fortune.