Fairly
Fairly adverb - Very close to but not completely.
Usage example: he fairly knocked me flat on my face as he ran by
Hardly
Both words in one sentence
- It helps that his twin hardly ever appeared in public, so the impersonation was fairly easy to pull off.
Source: Impersonating the Evil Twin - Pistol-Whipping: The marine can fairly competently stun Aliens in close quarters, but it's hardly suitable to be your primary tactic.
- College Humor uses this fairly often, particularly in their "Hardly Working" series.
Source: Noodle Incident / Web Original
Cite this Source
Hardly and Fairly. (2016). Retrieved 2026, August 14, from https://thesaurus.plus/related/fairly/hardly
Fairly & Hardly. N.p., 2016. Web. 14 Aug. 2026. <https://thesaurus.plus/related/fairly/hardly>.
Hardly or Fairly. 2016. Accessed August 14, 2026. https://thesaurus.plus/related/fairly/hardly.
Google Ngram Viewer shows how "fairly" and "hardly" have occurred on timeline