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• Half a loaf is better than none
  Half a loaf is better than none

  Something is better than nothing at all.
• half a loaf is better than none
  half a loaf is better than none

  Something is better than nothing, even if it is less than one wanted. For example, He had asked for a new trumpet but got a used one—oh well, half a loaf is better than none. This expression, often shortened, was already a proverb in 1546, where it was explicitly put: “For better is half a loaf than no bread.”

Half a loaf is better than none

Cultural  

1. Something is better than nothing at all.

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half a loaf is better than none Idioms  

1. Something is better than nothing, even if it is less than one wanted. For example, He had asked for a new trumpet but got a used one—oh well, half a loaf is better than none. This expression, often shortened, was already a proverb in 1546, where it was explicitly put: “For better is half a loaf than no bread.”

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

Half a loaf is better than none half a loaf is better than none

Charlie Renfro, an axle checker at a Ford truck plant in Louisville, is not happy with the prospect of givebacks but takes a common view: "Half a loaf is better than none."

From Time Magazine Archive

The incrementalist counsels patience: Something is better than nothing, half a loaf is better than none.

From New York Times ● Jan. 26, 2022

"I think people realize half a loaf is better than none," Stewart said.

From Time ● Aug. 7, 2017

Acting like a man who believes half a loaf is better than none.

From Time Magazine Archive

Well," said Dunning, in a more mollified tone, "though der dogs is in the luck, to be sure, yet half a loaf is better than none.

From The Rangers; or, The Tory's Daughter A tale illustrative of the revolutionary history of Vermont by D. P. Thompson

He could not know of the reward, however, and acting on the theory that half a loaf is better than none, Long Bill reached for his oars and pulled ashore.

From Prairie Flowers by James B. (James Beardsley) Hendryx