half-empty

adjective

(of a vessel, place, etc) holding or containing half its capacity

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Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Examples from the Web for half-empty

Contemporary Examples of half-empty

That makes everybody feel good and talk about how the system can work and so on, but I see the glass as half-empty.
The Senate's Immigration Vote
Michael Tomasky
June 25, 2013
He also gave him stationary, shoelaces, a light for his bike, and a half-empty bottle of Grand Marnier.
Whitey Bulger's Wily Girl
Christine Pelisek
June 27, 2011
When I arrived at the Church of Saint Vincent Ferrer, the pews were half-empty.
Mary Magdalene and Me
Tracy Quan
November 10, 2009

Historical Examples of half-empty

Harkaman looked at his half-empty glass, then filled it to the top.
Space Viking
Henry Beam Piper
But he sat his horse all of a huddle, as limp as a half-empty sack of chaff.
The History of Sir Richard Calmady
Lucas Malet
So there was that strange, half-empty feeling about the house, as if the birds had flown.
Sons and Lovers
David Herbert Lawrence
On the table was a half-empty bottle of champagne and a bedroom tumbler.
The Hypocrite
Cyril Arthur Edward Ranger Gull
There, he made at once for the half-empty decanter upon the table.
The White Blackbird
Hudson Douglas