1. Only a very short time before
   "we barely knew them";
   - hardly, just, scarcely, scarce
    
2. Almost not
   "she barely seemed to notice him"; "we were so far back in the theatre we could barely read the subtitles";
   - hardly, scarcely, scarce
    
3. By a little
   "it was barely 5 a.m"; "the network has barely 5 percent of viewers";
   - just

Encyclopedia: Barely