How to use barely in a sentence
40 example sentences · adverb
Barely means by a small margin. Example: “I barely completed my homework. However, I got a score of 5 for it.”
Examples of barely by meaning
adverbBy a small margin.
- I barely completed my homework. However, I got a score of 5 for it.
- As our train to Paris dashed through the labyrynthine flyovers at Porchefontaine, barely a mile from Versailles, the 75 m.p.h. limit was already almost attained.1961 November, H. G. Ellison, P. G. Barlow, “Journey through France: Part One”, in Trains Illustrated, page 670
adverbAlmost not at all.
- The plane is so far away now I can barely see it.
- Yes, it is barely visible.
- In contrast to what was to come, City were barely allowed any time to settle on the ball in the opening exchanges, with Ashley Young prominent and drawing heavy fouls from Micah Richards and James Milner.2011 October 23, Phil McNulty, “Man Utd 1 - 6 Man City”, in BBC Sport, archived from the original on 07 Apr 2018
adverbRecently, just now.
- I barely got to the store.
adverbOpenly, clearly, plainly.
- Remember, I haven’t tried to embroider; I’m just laying the facts barely before you—as barely as I can—to make what you please out of.1918 October, Arthur Johnson, “The Little Family”, in Harper’s Monthly Magazine, volume CXXXVII, number 821, New York, N.Y.; London: Harper...
- The term “brief” may appear somewhat inappropriate, as the legal brief is often a bulky document, but the sense is rather that the ideas are stated barely, without elaboration or persuasive enforcement.1920, John Mantle Clapp, “Clear Thinking—Testing Your Thought”, in Talking Business (Language for Men of Affairs; I), New York, N.Y.: The...
- The precepts are stated barely and directly.1948, William Van O’Connor, “The Employment of Myths”, in Sense and Sensibility in Modern Poetry, Chicago, Ill.: The University of Chicago...
More sentences with barely
- Did you buy the groceries? — With what money? We barely have any left.From the entry what
- He was speaking an Arabic that they'd never heard before and could barely understand.From the entry arabic
- This bread is so stale and hard, I can barely cut it.From the entry hard
- Pierre was a master swordsman, and could parry the thrusts of lesser men with barely a thought.From the entry thrust
- Sales have been flat all year, and we've barely broken even.From the entry flat
- With only five people making it to the meeting, we were barely quorate.From the entry quorate
- The system was barely keeping pressure due to all of the ill-advised taps along its length.From the entry tap
- Smith is in the bubble position, having barely beaten out Jones for the last spot.From the entry bubble position
- The prisoners were docile, and accepted their lot with barely a mutter.From the entry mutter
- She wore a racy dress that was just barely appropriate for the occasion.From the entry racy
- He was practically uneducated, barely able to read and write a simple sentence.From the entry practically
- You're not bleeding out; the knife barely scratched your skin. Stop being so dramatic!From the entry dramatic
- There is barely enough money, so we will have to make do with what we have.From the entry make do
- Her voice was barely perceptible over the noise, but her gestures made her meaning clear.From the entry perceptible
- I worked on them all day, but barely made headway at all.From the entry make headway
- My stipend for doing public service is barely enough to cover living expenses.From the entry stipend
- He barely managed to recoup his money. He sold out for just what he had invested.From the entry recoup
- The attorney peppered him with rapid fire questions, barely giving him time to reply.From the entry rapid fire
- The combined efforts of the emergency workers kept the river from going over its banks, barely.From the entry combined
- If us two competed together, we'd probably score just barely under the middle of the road.From the entry middle of the road
- All Bill caught were two smallish sunperch, barely worth the effort to clean and cook.From the entry sunperch
- The team was making goals so fast the scorer could barely keep up.From the entry scorer
- This phone is on its way out, it can barely hold a charge.From the entry on its way out
- The radio signal was staticky and we could barely hear the announcer.From the entry staticky
- The world and his wife were at the opening – we could barely move.From the entry the world and his wife
- If I double-major in anthropology and neuroscience, I will barely have enough time to sleep.From the entry double-major
- The train was full to overflowing, and the doors would barely shut.From the entry to overflowing
- This guy is camping so hard that I can barely move off of spawn before getting one-tapped.From the entry one-tap
- Man, I can barely go outside without being heightmogged by some 6′5″ gigachad.From the entry heightmog
- Most families in the village are barely on the subsistence level.From the entry subsistence level
- The project seemed barely accomplishable within the given deadline.From the entry accomplishable
Meaning of barely
- adverb By a small margin.
- adverb Almost not at all.
- adverb Recently, just now.
Questions about barely in a sentence
- How do you use barely in a sentence?
- Barely is used as an adverb. For example: “I barely completed my homework. However, I got a score of 5 for it.”
- What is a short sentence with barely?
- “Yes, it is barely visible.”
- What does barely mean?
- Barely means by a small margin.
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: barely (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Cite this page: “How to use barely in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/barely. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.