half-assed
Americanadjective
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insufficient or haphazard; not fully planned or developed.
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incompetent; lacking sufficient ability or knowledge.
adjective
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incompetent; inept
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lacking efficiency or organization
Etymology
Origin of half-assed
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.
"My life is not meant to be lived in misery and half-assed," wrote Aiava, who said 2026 would be her last year on tour.
From Barron's ● Feb. 15, 2026
Reichardt is laying bare a privileged man’s half-assed delinquency, especially with O’Connor so hypnotic at conveying self-absorbed cluelessness with his woeful eyes, posture and movement.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 16, 2025
Gif: Google While Google’s very late to the party on this one, at least its implementation isn’t half-assed.
From The Verge ● May 26, 2022
Rewriting a three-day-old story and appending an awkward, half-assed correction is not even vaguely OK.
From Salon ● May 24, 2021
It was really classy, like something you might find at a semi-pro baseball stadium or some half-assed rock venue.
From "Anthem of a Reluctant Prophet" by Joanne Proulx
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
