half-baked

American  

[haf-beykt, hahf-] / ˈhæfˈbeɪkt, ˈhɑf- /

adjective

1. insufficiently cooked.

2. not completed; insufficiently planned or prepared.

   a half-baked proposal for tax reform.

3. lacking mature judgment or experience; unrealistic.

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half-baked British  

adjective

1. insufficiently baked

2. informal foolish; stupid

3. informal poorly planned or conceived

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Etymology

Origin of half-baked

First recorded in 1615–25

Example Sentences

Critics were given seven episodes to preview out of the first season’s nine installments, enough to confirm that any emerging theories about its meaning can only be half-baked.

From Salon

We usually die half-baked, so he finishes the cooking, turning up the heat.

From The Wall Street Journal

Less successful were a half-baked mashup, “Beauty and Mr. Beast,” about the popular YouTuber, and a sorority sketch with Mikey Day as an interloping man wearing a bad facial disguise.

From Los Angeles Times

Hence, his first solo offering, “McCartney,” was mostly tentative, half-baked notions for songs, interlaced with a few fully realized compositions like “Maybe I’m Amazed,” all recorded by McCartney in his home studio.

From Los Angeles Times

Can Rachel McAdams sue the attorney general for this half-baked theft of her iconic movie villain?

From Salon

Related Words

• idiotic
• ill-conceived
• witless