halfway house
Americannoun
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an inn or stopping place situated approximately midway between two places on a road.
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any place considered as midway in a course.
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a residence for former mental patients, convicts, or recovering drug users or alcoholics that serves as a transitional environment between confinement and the return to society.
noun
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a place to rest midway on a journey
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the halfway point in any progression
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a centre or hostel designed to facilitate the readjustment to private life of released prisoners, mental patients, etc
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a compromise
a halfway house between fixed and floating exchange rates
Etymology
Origin of halfway house
First recorded in 1685–95
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.
A halfway house is a New York Times podcast whose moderators ape the shouty persona of comedian John Mulaney.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 8, 2026
In Naiguata, a small coastal town famous for its traditional "dancing devils" festival, Cesar Rendon, 49, a former inmate who lived in the town's halfway house, confides that he "unburdened himself" with Apostol.
From Barron's ● Jul. 8, 2026
Marquez remembers when a home on 115th Street was being considered for a halfway house a few years back.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 22, 2025
The 2007 Second Chance Act allows people to transition from prisons to the community, serving up to the final 12 months of their sentence in a halfway house.
From Slate ● Jul. 5, 2025
He told her about the advice the counselor at the halfway house had given to him.
From "Small Steps" by Louis Sachar
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
