half-hearted
Britishadjective
Other Word Forms
- half-heartedly adverb
- half-heartedness noun
Explanation
Use the adjective half-hearted to describe someone whose heart is not really in what they are doing. If you're a half-hearted member of your school marching band, you're not very excited about playing your tuba during halftime at football games. You might show up for awkward family dinners with your strange cousins, but you don't look forward to it and you can't wait until it's over. You're a half-hearted participant, and when your weird relatives leave, you probably give a half-hearted wave goodbye. The word can also be spelled "halfhearted."
Vocabulary lists containing half-hearted
Idioms and Expressions, List 3
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Eleven
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You Bring the Distant Near
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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.
A few half-hearted boos was the extent of it.
From BBC • Aug. 31, 2025
This half-hearted interest in naturalism hurts more than helps.
From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 11, 2025
Instead, mitigation was uneven and half-hearted, stoking frustration without effectively preventing spread of the disease, and paving the way for the backlash that followed.
From Salon • Mar. 14, 2025
Although deaths of other business figures or CEOs might inspire at least a few half-hearted condolences, the public consensus around Thompson’s death is one big fat shrug.
From Slate • Dec. 5, 2024
I tried not to rush as I trailed Meg, pausing and dipping a knee or putting a hand on my hip in a half-hearted imitation of her.
From "The Red Car to Hollywood" by Jennie Liu
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.
