by halves

Imperfectly, reluctantly, or half-heartedly, as in You really can't paint a portrait by halves. [Mid-1500s]

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Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Fashion designers of his stature clearly don’t do things by halves.

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"I don't do things by halves," he says with another laugh, recounting how he spent hours watching online tutorials to learn how to identify birds and get the best out of his new camera, which he normally has set to 30 frames a second with manual controls.

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Gymnasts can adjust a twisting vault midair by reducing the number of revolutions by halves if they feel something gone awry.