From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishhardly everhardly evernot very often We hardly ever go out. → ever
Examples from the Corpus
hardly ever• Universities have hardly ever been held in lower esteem.• Many people think museums make lots of money on big shows, but in truth, they hardly ever break even.• Brent hardly ever calls me anymore.• She gave cheap advice and charge mini-mum fees, hardly ever collecting on past due accounts.• You know kids who always do their schoolwork and kids who hardly ever do their class and homework assignments.• The charm of it hardly ever fails.• We hardly ever go out to eat.• From that day on Bill and Kath have hardly ever thrown anything away.• Theo's occasional complaints, hardly ever voiced directly, were usually muted and so we fail to take note of them.• I hardly ever write letters any more. 