(adverb) : vix, etym. dub.; perh. from root vic- of vinco
* With difficulty, with much ado, hardly, scarcely, barely.
* In gen.: quid est, sine his cur vivere velimus? mihi vero cum his ipsis vix; his autem detractis ne vix quidem,Cic. Fam. 9, 8, 2: quae vix aut ne vix quidem adpareant,id. Fin. 4, 13, 32: ut vix aut omnino non posset ... infirmari sua lex,id. Att. 3, 23, 2; cf.: profluens amnis aut vix aut nullo modo, conclusa autem aqua facile corrumpitur,id. N. D. 2, 7, 20: vix incedo inanis, ne, etc.,Plaut. Am. 1, 1, 174: vix sum compos animi,Ter. Ad. 3, 2, 12: vix me contineo, quin involem, etc.,id. Eun. 5, 2, 20: Thr. Hic sunt tres minae. Gn. Vix, id. ib. 3, 2, 19: vix in ipsis tectis frigus vitatur,Cic. Fam. 16, 8, 2: ego teneo ab accusando vix me hercule: sed tamen teneo,id. Q. Fr. 3, 2, 2: Gabinius collegit ipse se vix, sed collegit tamen,id. Pis. 12, 27: iter angustum et difficile, vix quā singuli carri ducerentur,Caes. B. G. 1, 6: brevi spatio interjecto, vix ut his rebus ... administrandis tempus daretur,id. ib. 3, 4; cf.: adeo, ut vix ulla possit causa reperiri, Quint. Inst. prooem. § 12: ex hominum milibus LX. vix ad D. sese redactos esse dixerunt,to scarcely five hundred,Caes. B. G. 2, 28: carcer vix carcere dignus, Lucil. ap. Don. Ter. Eun. 3, 2, 19 et saep.: ego vix teneor, quin accurram,Cic. Fam. 16, 24, 2: vix est, ut id obtineat,Dig. 41, 1, 7, § 7; so ib. 16, 1, 19 init.
* Strengthened
* In partic., of time, hardly, scarcely.
* By saltem: illud vix saltem praecipiendum videtur,Quint. 6, 4, 15.
* By repetition: corpus matri vix vixque remissum,Albin. 1, 167.
* Absol.: assum atque advenio Acherunte vix via alta atque ardua, Poët. ap. Cic. Tusc. 1, 16, 37 (Trag. Rel. p. 208 Rib.): ah, vix tandem sensi stolidus!Ter. And. 3, 1, 12: vix tandem legi litteras,Cic. Fam. 3, 9, 1; Cat. 62, 2: contingat vix deinde mori,Val. Fl. 7, 537.
* With a foll. cum, and poet. also et, to denote the immediate succession of two events.
* With cum: vix agmen novissimum extra munitiones processerat, cum Galli, etc.,Caes. B. G. 6, 8: vix erat hoc plane imperatum, cum illum ... videres,Cic. Verr. 2, 4, 40, § 86: vix ea fatus erat, geminae cum forte columbae ... caelo venere volantes,Verg. A. 6, 190; Ov. M. 1, 69.
* Strengthened by dum, and usually written in one word, vixdum, hardly then, scarcely yet: Dolabella valde vituperabatur, quod tibi tam cito succederet, cum vixdum triginta dies in Syriā fuisses,Cic. Fam. 12, 4, 2: haec ego omnia vixdum etiam coetu nostro dimisso comperi,id. Cat. 1, 4, 10: (Hannibalem) vixdum puberem,Liv. 21, 3, 2: vixdum serio adnuere,id. 39, 42, 12: progressis vixdum quattuor milia passuum,id. 44, 5, 1; 32, 28, 4; 10, 32, 7: puer vixdum libertatem, nedum dominationem modice laturus,id. 24, 4, 1: vixdum dimidium dixeram: intellexerat,Ter. Phorm. 4, 2, 4: vixdum epistulam tuam legeram, cum, etc.,Cic. Att. 9, 2, A, 3.—So with et, Liv. 36, 12, 5; 43, 4, 10; Plin. Ep. 7, 33, 7.
* With ellipsis of cum or et: vix proram attigerat, rumpit Saturnia funem, Verg. A. 10, 659; 8, 337: vix bene desieram, rettulit illa mihi,Ov. F. 5, 278; Phaedr. 4, 24, 28 sq.; so, vix bene,Ov. M. 2, 47.