knappast

See also: knäppast

Swedish

Pronunciation

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Adjective

knappast

1. predicative superlative degree of knapp

Adverb

knappast (not comparable)

1. hardly, scarcely (certainly not)

   Det är knappast hans fel

   It's hardly his fault (intuitively, "No way it's his fault")

3. (now uncommon) barely, scarcely (almost not)

Usage notes

Still common in (sense 2) in the dictionaries from the Swedish Academy when designating a word or sense as rare or as rarely appearing in the plural – perhaps for historical reasons. This is potentially confusing for native speakers, who are likely to interpret "knappast" as "certainly not" in contemporary Swedish.

Interjection

knappast

1. no way!, I don't think so!

References

• knappast in Svensk ordbok (SO)
• knappast in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)
• knappast in Svenska Akademiens ordbok (SAOB)