Barely and Nearly

Barely

Barely adverb - By a very small margin.
Usage example: we barely made it to the church on time

Nearly and barely are semantically related in quantity topic. In some cases you can use "Nearly" instead an adverb "Barely", when it comes to topics like hardly.

Nearby Words: bare, bareness

Nearly

Nearly adverb - To a close degree.

Barely and nearly are semantically related in quantity topic. You can use "Barely" instead an adverb "Nearly", if it concerns topics such as hardly.

Nearby Word: near

Both words in one sentence

  • Why, that's almost nearly sort of kind of barely a little bit about half as bad as the murderers and despots we normally work for!
  • Americans Hate Tingle Even Zwartboek, his first return to Dutch cinema in nearly two decades, performed exceptionally well back in the Netherlands, but barely made a blip in North America.
  • It Was with You All Along Atreyu: My horse died, I nearly drowned, and I just barely got away from the Nothing.
Cite this Source
Nearly and Barely. (2016). Retrieved 2026, August 15, from https://thesaurus.plus/related/barely/nearly
Barely & Nearly. N.p., 2016. Web. 15 Aug. 2026. <https://thesaurus.plus/related/barely/nearly>.
Nearly or Barely. 2016. Accessed August 15, 2026. https://thesaurus.plus/related/barely/nearly.
Google Ngram Viewer shows how "barely" and "nearly" have occurred on timeline