half-joking
Britishadjective
Other Word Forms
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.
Shannon warned me, only half-joking, “Don’t fall for your building super.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 14, 2025
But it has inspired the kind of feverish, half-serious, half-joking discourse online that no marketing can buy, with memes, jokes, bets and Highlander references galore every time either film drops a new advertisement.
From Seattle Times ● Apr. 27, 2023
“Am I even necessary now?” he asked me, only half-joking.
From New York Times ● Jan. 12, 2023
Victory over Chelsea, Scheuer has said, is a priority - and he is only half-joking because of the painful memory of his last meeting with the WSL leaders.
From BBC ● Jan. 11, 2023
He said it seriously, but I had a feeling he was half-joking.
From "Z for Zachariah" by Robert C. O’Brien
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.
