Hardly definition
I could hardly get up the stairs.
I could hardly hear the speaker.
He is hardly the kind of guy you would want to date. It's hardly a secret that they are engaged.
Hardly the person to ask.
I think the Beatles are a really overrated band. ― Hardly!
An example of hardly used as an adverb is in the sentence, "He was hardly helping us to complete the project," which means "He was barely helping us to complete the project."