half-hearted

half-hearted

See also: halfhearted

English

Alternative forms

• halfhearted

Etymology

From half- +‎ hearted.

Pronunciation

• Audio (US)

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Adjective

half-hearted (comparative more half-hearted, superlative most half-hearted)

1. Lacking full energy, effort, commitment, or resolve.

   Synonym: lukewarm

   He made a half-hearted attempt to read the chapter before giving up and dozing off.

   • 2012 May 9, Jonathan Wilson, “Europa League: Radamel Falcao's Atlético Madrid rout Athletic Bilbao”, in the Guardian‎:

     There were chants against the domestic league's president Dumitru Dragomir and also a half-hearted two-man pitch invasion by Universitatea Craiova fans protesting at the expulsion of their club from the league.

2. (obsolete) Lacking in heart or spirit; ungenerous; unkind.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Ben Jonson to this entry?)

Derived terms

• halfheartedly
• halfheartedness

Translations

lacking full energy

Arabic: تعوزه الحماسَة‎, مفتقر إلى الحماسَة‎ Bulgarian: апатичен (bg) (apatičen), равнодушен (bg) (ravnodušen) Dutch: halfhartig (nl), halfslachtig (nl) German: halbherzig (de) Italian: fiacco (it) m, incerto (it) m Maori: waimori

Norwegian: Bokmål: halvhjertet, halvhjerta Nynorsk: halvhjarta Spanish: sin gana Tagalog: tambisi Turkish: isteksiz (tr), gönülsüz (tr)

See also

• insincere
• tepid
• wholehearted

Further reading

• half-hearted at OneLook Dictionary Search