Fellow we rejected had hardly any (3)
I believe the answer is:
few
'hardly any' is the definition.
('few' can be similar in meaning to 'hardly any')
'fellow we rejected' is the wordplay.
'fellow' becomes 'f' (abbreviation - of a society etc.).
'rejected' says the letters should be written in reverse.
'we' in reverse letter order is 'ew'.
'f'+'ew'='FEW'
'had' is the link.
(Other definitions for few that I've seen before include "Considerable number, ironically" , "Only one or two" , "Relatively small number" , "Indefinite but small number" , "Not many, just a handful" .)