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Glite Dictionary
not hardly

not hardly

11 8.8
Not true at all
  • idiom
  • Informal
: 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
∞ 1.0

In no way

has stronger emphasis or force when denying something entirely
in the slightest
vsnot hardly
20 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
1 8.1

Not true at all

asserts total falsity without mentioning any small parts
not by a long sight
vsnot hardly
  • UK
1 9.3

Not true at all

states absolute falsity rather than suggesting distance from truth

Antonyms

completely
∞ 1.0

Totally, in every way

absolutely
∞ 1.0

Completely and without any doubt

How True

often
∞ 1.0
sometimes
∞ 1.0
rarely
508 1.0
hardly
∞ 1.0
not hardly
  • Informal
11 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'.