hardly completed

USAGE SUMMARY

The phrase "hardly completed" is correct and usable in written English.
It can be used to indicate that something has been completed to a very small extent or not at all. Example: "The project was hardly completed by the deadline, leaving many tasks unfinished."

✓ Grammatically correct

News & Media

Science

Human-verified examples from authoritative sources

Exact Expressions

2 human-written examples

We came out and found the first try, but from then on we hardly completed a string of possession.

The Guardian - Sport

In MCK-UCP1 mice, the decrease of the SFI was much more pronounced, and recovery was greatly delayed and hardly completed 30 days after lesion (figure 8A).

Plosone

Human-verified similar examples from authoritative sources

Similar Expressions

56 human-written examples

He could hardly complete a sentence," Mr. Hoffman said.

The New York Times

You can hardly complete a book report without covering those subjects.

The New York Times

In the Hawks film, Humphrey Bogart's incomparably adroit Philip Marlowe always anticipates the next moment, whereas the Dude, caught up in an indecipherable Los Angeles intrigue, is so limp and vaguely constituted that he can hardly complete a sentence.

The New Yorker

It means the freeze-drying method can hardly complete the in vivo or in situ test.

BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders

Small Arabidopsis can hardly complete with other grasses and, if long-lived, will inevitably fail in the struggle for existence as if the fox will always kill not only stupid but also clever hare in our hares versus fox case.

Aging

The transformation was hardly complete.

The New York Times

But value's victory is hardly complete.

The New York Times

And as Lithuania this week takes over the rotating presidency of the EU council of ministers, its government is reminding the EU that the task of creating "Europe whole and free" is hardly complete.

The Economist

But it is hardly complete: If you search for "Lost" on Fancast, for example, it won't point you to the streams available on ABC.com, only old episodes for sale or rent.

The New York Times

Expert writing Tips

Best practice

Use "hardly completed" when you want to emphasize that something was finished to a minimal extent or with great difficulty. This implies that the completion was insufficient or barely achieved.

Common error

Avoid using "hardly completed" when you mean something was entirely unfinished. The phrase indicates some level of completion, albeit minimal. If nothing was done, use "not completed" or "unfinished" instead.

Linguistic Context

The phrase "hardly completed" functions as an adverbial modifier followed by a past participle, indicating the degree to which an action was completed. The adverb "hardly" modifies the verb "completed", conveying that the action was carried out to a very small extent. As Ludwig AI suggests, the phrase is correct and usable.

Expression frequency: Rare

Frequent in

News & Media

50%

Science

50%

Formal & Business

0%

Less common in

Wiki

0%

Encyclopedias

0%

Reference

0%

Ludwig's WRAP-UP

The phrase "hardly completed" is a grammatically sound construction used to convey that something was finished to a minimal extent, as confirmed by Ludwig AI. It functions as an adverbial modifier, with "hardly" diminishing the degree of completion. While not very frequent, the phrase appears in both news and scientific contexts. Alternatives like "barely completed" or "scarcely completed" offer similar nuances. When using this phrase, ensure it aligns with your intended meaning of minimal completion, differentiating it from complete incompletion. While Ludwig shows only a few instances, the existing occurrences are from reputable sources like The Guardian and The New York Times.

More alternative expressions

Phrases that express similar concepts, ordered by semantic similarity:

barely completed

Indicates a task was finished by the narrowest margin.

scarcely completed

Highlights the rarity or infrequency of completion.

just barely finished

Emphasizes the marginal nature of the completion.

minimally completed

Focuses on the small extent to which something was completed.

virtually untouched

Suggests almost no progress was made at all.

remained unfinished

Highlights the lack of completion.

largely undone

Indicates that most of the task remains to be done.

left unfulfilled

Focuses on the lack of satisfaction or achievement.

imperfectly executed

Highlights the flaws in the completion of the task.

partially done

Specifies that only a portion of the task was finished.

FAQs

How can I use "hardly completed" in a sentence?

You can use "hardly completed" to indicate that something was only barely finished or almost not finished at all. For example, "The project was "hardly completed" by the deadline".

What are some alternatives to "hardly completed"?

Alternatives include "barely completed", "scarcely completed", or "minimally completed". These all suggest that the task was finished to a very small extent.

Is "hardly completed" grammatically correct?

Yes, "hardly completed" is grammatically correct. "Hardly" is an adverb that modifies the verb "completed", indicating the degree to which the action was performed.

What's the difference between "hardly completed" and "not completed"?

"Hardly completed" implies that some minimal work was done, whereas "not completed" means that nothing was done at all. The former suggests a deficient result, while the latter suggests a total absence of progress.