different between rigid vs hardly

English

Etymology

From Middle English rigide, from Latin rigidus (“stiff”), from rige? (“I am stiff”). Compare rigor. Merged with Middle English rigged, rygged, rugged (“upright like a spine, rigid”, literally “ridged”), from ridge +? -ed.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /???d??d/
• Rhymes: -?d??d

Adjective

rigid (comparative rigider or more rigid, superlative rigidest or most rigid)

1. Stiff, rather than flexible.

   Synonym: inflexible

   Antonym: flexible

2. Fixed, rather than moving.
   • 2011, David Foster Wallace, The Pale King,Penguin Books, page 5:

     A sunflower, four more, one bowed, and horses in the distance standing rigid and still as toys.

   Antonym: moving

3. Rigorous and unbending.
4. Uncompromising.

   Antonym: compromising

Derived terms

Related terms

Translations

Noun

rigid (plural rigids)

1. (aviation) An airship whose shape is maintained solely by an internal and/or external rigid structural framework, without using internal gas pressure to stiffen the vehicle (the lifting gas is at atmospheric pressure); typically also equipped with multiple redundant gasbags, unlike other types of airship.

2. A bicycle with no suspension system.

Synonyms

(airship):

• Zeppelin (broad sense)

Hyponyms

(airship):

• Zeppelin (narrow sense)

Hypernyms

(airship):

• dirigible

Coordinate terms

(airship):

• nonrigid
• semirigid

References

• rigid in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• rigid in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

Old Irish

Etymology 1

From Proto-Celtic *regeti (“to stretch”), from Proto-Indo-European *h?re?- (“to straighten, right oneself”).

Verb

rigid (conjunct ·reig or ·raig)

1. to stretch, to distend
   • c. 800–825, Diarmait, Milan Glosses on the Psalms, published in Thesaurus Palaeohibernicus (reprinted 1987, Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies), edited and with translations by Whitley Stokes and John Strachan, vol. I, pp. 7–483, Ml. 20^a23

Inflection

Derived terms

Descendants

• Middle Irish: rigid
  • Irish: righ (“to stretch”)

Etymology 2

From Proto-Celtic *rigeti (“bind”), from Proto-Indo-European *rey?- (“to bind, reach”).

Verb

rigid (conjunct ·rig)

1. to rule, direct
   • c. 700, Críth Gablach, published in Críth Gablach (1941, Dublin: Stationery Office), edited by Daniel Anthony Binchy, §30

   • c. 800-840, Orthanach, A Chóicid chóem Chairpri chrúaid from the Book of Leinster, LL line 6094

Derived terms

Descendants

• Middle Irish: rigid

References

Further reading

• Gregory Toner, Maire Ní Mhaonaigh, Sharon Arbuthnot, Dagmar Wodtko, Maire-Luise Theuerkauf, editors (2019) , “1 rigid”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language (both etymologies)
• Gregory Toner, Maire Ní Mhaonaigh, Sharon Arbuthnot, Dagmar Wodtko, Maire-Luise Theuerkauf, editors (2019) , “2 rigid”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language (as root of derivatives of Etymology 2)

Romanian

Etymology

From French rigide.

Adjective

rigid m or n (feminine singular rigid?, masculine plural rigizi, feminine and neuter plural rigide)

1. rigid

Declension

Related terms

• rigiditate

English

Etymology

From Middle English hardely, hardliche, from Old English heardl??e (“boldly; hardily; without ease; in a way that causes pain; not easily; only by degrees”), equivalent to hard +? -ly. Compare Dutch hardelijk, German härtlich.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?h??dli/
• (US) IPA^(key): /?h??dli/,

Adverb

hardly (comparative hardlier or more hardly, superlative hardliest or most hardly)

1. (manner, obsolete) Firmly, vigorously, with strength or exertion.
   • , Folio Society, 2006, vol.1, p.148:

     Let him hardly be possest with an honest curiositie to search out the nature and causes of all things […].
2. (manner, archaic) Harshly, severely; in a hard manner.

3. (now rare) With difficulty.
   • , Folio Society, 2006, vol.1, p.234:

     And what gentle flame soever doth warme the heart of young virgins, yet are they hardly drawne to leave and forgoe their mothers, to betake them to their husbands […].

   • 1977, John Le Carré, The Honourable Schoolboy, Folio Society 2010, page 40:

     While in Chelsea, Anne Smiley pined, taking very hardly to her unaccustomed role of wife abandoned.

4. (degree) Barely, only just, almost not.

Usage notes

• In the modern sense "barely", it is grammatically a negative word. It therefore collocates with ever rather than never.
  • Compare example sentence with I almost never watch television
  • Because of the anomalous sense of this word, expressions such as "hardly working" have an opposite meaning to what the etymology ("hard" + "-ly") would suggest. "Working hard" suggests that considerable work is being done, whereas "hardly working" suggests that very little work is being done.

Synonyms

• (barely, almost not or not quite): barely, just, only just, scarcely

Translations

Interjection

hardly

1. Not really.

   I think the Beatles are a really overrated band. ? Hardly!