adverbial N1 uncommon politewritten
辛うじて — barely / narrowly / only just
辛うじて ・ かろうじて
Meaning
- barely / narrowly / only just — succeeded by the slimmest of margins
Key sentence
終電に辛うじて間に合った。
I only just made the last train.
Formation
| Attaches to | Form | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Adverb fronting a clause | 辛うじて + clause |
Examples
彼は辛うじて試験に合格した。
He barely passed the exam.
ハンドルを切って、辛うじて衝突を避けた。
I turned the wheel and narrowly avoided a collision.
Easily confused with
Notes
- Always a positive outcome achieved with difficulty, by a thin margin.
See 辛うじて in real sentences
Jengo shows 辛うじて the way you actually meet it: inside real Japanese sentences, so it sticks instead of staying an abstract rule.
Study it in JengoSources Compiled with reference to A Dictionary of Intermediate Japanese Grammar.