Learn English – Can ‘hardly’ replace ‘rarely’, or must I say ‘hardly ever’

word-choice

I wrote the sentence

Fiona goes to the theater once in a blue moon.

which means that

Fiona rarely goes to the theater.

Can I use hardly instead of rarely in the sentence?, resulting in

Fiona hardly goes to the theater.

Or must I use hardly ever? A dictionary cannot answer this question.

Best Answer

You use hardly to say:

  • only just; almost not:
  • To convey the meaning of "rarely" you have to use "hardly ever".
  • I could hardly hear her at the back. The party had hardly started when she left. He hardly ate anything/He ate hardly anything. We hardly ever (= almost never) go to concerts. Hardly had a moment passed before the door creaked open.

(Cambridge Dictiinary)

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