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Glite Dictionary
not hardly

not hardly

1 8.8
Not true at all
  • idiom
  • Informal
translation icon : para nada
  • On some cow, two days' walk, not hardly seven miles.

Examples

  • It's not hardly 2:00!

    A Raisin in the Sun (1961)

  • He is not hardly the best player on the team; there are many who perform better.

  • "Not hardly," I interjected, letting my presence be known.

    Fiction book (2001)

  • Not hardly, Jae!

    Blog text (32)

  • "Not hardly," she said, shaking her head in disbelief.

  • The task was not hardly what I expected; it was much more difficult.

Synonyms

not at all
vsnot hardly
331 1.0

In no way

has stronger emphasis or force when denying something entirely
in the slightest
vsnot hardly
19 3.8

Shows no effect or feeling, not even a little

uses stronger absolute negation rather than focusing on tiny amounts
not a bit of it
vsnot hardly
  • Informal
8.1

Not true at all

asserts total falsity without mentioning any small parts
not by a long sight
vsnot hardly
  • UK
9.3

Not true at all

states absolute falsity rather than suggesting distance from truth

Antonyms

absolutely
∞ 1.0

Completely and without any doubt

completely
∞ 1.0

Totally, in every way

How True

often
∞ 1.0
sometimes
∞ 1.0
rarely
539 1.0
hardly
∞ 1.0
not hardly
  • Informal
1 8.8

Surface Forms

not hardly positive

Morphology

not + hardly

The constituents 'not' (negation) and 'hardly' (almost not) create a contradictory literal meaning, so the emphatic negative sense 'absolutely not' is not transparently derivable from the parts. This usage is non-standard/dialectal and unpredictable from the component meanings, so a B1 learner who only knows the words would likely be confused rather than arrive at the intended meaning.

Etymology

The phrase not hardly comes from people using two negatives together: the words not and hardly are joined to make a stronger 'no', like saying 'not even a little'. That's why not hardly is used to mean 'absolutely not' or 'not at all'.