[Vocabulary] hardly be other than grateful

[Silverobama]

Hi,

What does the sentence mean "She can hardly be other than grateful"? Does it mean "She can only be grateful"? If so, is the sentence idiomatic?

 

[philo2009]

Yes, that is exactly what it means.

It is a rather formal circumlocution.

 

[BobK]

:up: And some people try to attenuate the formality by adding an 'anything' (which makes 'other' into an adjective).

b