"barely true" is a correct and usable phrase in written English.
It is typically used to describe a statement or claim that is only slightly or marginally true. It implies that the statement may be technically true, but is not entirely accurate or reliable. Example: The politician's statement about lower taxes being beneficial for all citizens was barely true, as it failed to take into account the negative impact on social services and education.
It is just barely true, and close to meaningless, for the TCM documentary to award "The Squaw Man" the title of "first feature film shot entirely in Hollywood".
There is little new in spying among allies: the oft-quoted line from Secretary of State Henry L. Stimson that "Gentlemen do not read each other's mail" was barely true when he uttered it in 1929, and Mr. Stimson himself later oversaw the breaking of codes during World War II.
It's a credit to Wexler that despite plentiful opportunity for naff bawdy humour, this (very) loose adaptation of a (barely) true story manages to make some salient points about chauvinism, misogyny and priggishness in 19th-century Britain, the legacy of which is still with us today.
One complaint is that interventionist accounts (at least as I have formulated them) appeal to counterfactuals and that counterfactuals cannot be (as it is often put) "barely true": if a counterfactual is true, this must be so in virtue of some "truth maker" which is not itself modal or counterfactual.
This year's "Lie Of The Year" is something that's actually "barely true".
Some of you may not know this -- and to be honest, it's barely true -- but I'm a DJ.
The respondent is required to respond based on a 5 point Likert format where 1 = 'never true'; 2 = 'rarely true'; 3 = 'sometimes true'; 4 = 'often true'; 5 = 'very often true'.
This promise proves barely half true.
That's barely even 50% true.
But, ultimately, fashion seems intent on pursuing what powers it: human coat-hangers for creations that barely acknowledge the true female form but, rather, generate excitement, acres of column inches and lucrative sales at the world's leading shows.
Key said he was leaving a caucus that is "capable, committed and cohesive", which is largely true – barely ever have the ideological and personal differences among National MPs erupted into public view.
