1. only just: use this when you succeed in doing something, but you want to emphasize how close you were to failing

例：

It was a close game. Beverly beat me, but only just. （这场比赛双方势均力敌，最后贝弗莉赢了，但也只赢了一点点。）

The paperwork was only just completed in time for the conference. （文件正好赶在开会前做好了。）

The train was late, and I only just made it to the meeting on time. （火车晚点了，弄得我差点开会迟到。）

2. barely: if you barely do something, you succeed, although you almost fail

例：

The fog was so bad that we could barely see the road in front of us. （雾大到几乎看不清前面的路。）

She was barely aware of his presence. （她几乎没注意到他来了。） 

Joe and his brother are barely on speaking terms. （乔兄弟俩几乎到了不说话的地步。） 

3. narrowly:

例：

narrowly win/defeat/fail etc.: if you narrowly win, lose etc., you win or lose by a very small number of points, votes etc.

The bill was narrowly defeated in the Senate. （这项法案在参议院差点就通过了。）

She narrowly failed to beat the world record in the 100 meters sprint. （她差点就打破了百米赛跑的世界纪录。）

补充："narrow"也能表示类似的意思，如：

（1）narrow escape: a situation in which you only just avoid danger, difficulties, or trouble 死里逃生

例：

A woman had a narrow escape yesterday when her car left the road. （昨天有辆车翻出公路，女司机死里逃生。）

He was shaken by his narrow escape from death. （他死里逃生，自己都惊呆了。）

I had several narrow escapes during the war, at one point just missing death when my plane was shot down. （战争中我有几次死里逃生的经历，有一次我开的飞机被打下来，我差点就死了。）

（2）narrow victory/defeat/majority/margin etc.: a win etc. that is only just achieved or happens by only a small amount 

例：

The president won a narrow victory in the election. （总统在竞选中险胜。）

He persuaded a narrow majority of the party to support the government. （他说服政党里的多数派支持政府，多数派与少数派人数相差无几。）

Scotland eventually won the match by the narrow margin of 5-4. （苏格兰队最后5:4，一分险胜。）

备注：

The expression "a narrow victory/defeat" is used mostly in writing. In everyday British English, people often say that someone "only just won/lost" or, in everyday American English, "barely won/lost".

（"a narrow victory/defeat"常用于书面语中，日常口语中，英式英语常用"only just won/lost"，美式英语中常用"barely won/lost"。）

4. almost didn't :

备注：英式英语中常用''nearly didn't''。

例：

I saw him a week ago and I almost didn't recognize him, he'd lost so much weight. （我一周前见过他，差点没认出来，他瘦了好多。）

My alarm clock is broken and I nearly didn't wake up in time this morning. （我闹钟坏了，今天早上差点起迟了。）

5. by the skin of your teeth: if you do something by the skin of your teeth , you succeed in doing it, but only by a very small amount of time, space etc.

例：

The car broke down on the way to the airport and they just caught the plane by the skin of their teeth. （去机场的路上车坏了，他们差点没赶上飞机。）