half-hearted
Britishadjective
Other Word Forms
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.
There’s Mrs. Duggan’s sitting room, for example, with its “faint, high whistling of the gas fire”; and “the weary clatter of half-hearted washing-up” in a depressing cafe.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 24, 2026
And these memos lay bare the extent to which the work product underpinning these decisions is often half-hearted and vibes-based; animated more by grievance and hurt feelings than neutral legal rules.
From Slate ● Apr. 21, 2026
This half-hearted interest in naturalism hurts more than helps.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 11, 2025
Downing Street agreed, describing their words as "half-hearted" and "completely unacceptable".
From BBC ● Apr. 29, 2025
Alex made a half-hearted attempt to take it back, but Jordan held it way up high, out of reach, as he stared down at Alex.
From "Eleven" by Tom Rogers
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.
