Softly denied? Not really! (6)
I believe the answer is:
hardly
'softly' is the definition.
Both the answer and definition are adverbs. Perhaps they are linked in a way I don't understand?
I can't explain the rest of the clue.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for hardly that I've seen before include "Not much" , "Not quite "It seems unlikely!"" , "Almost not" , "With great difficulty" , "Barely, scarcely" .)