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What is "half-hearted"

Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
half-hearted
adjective
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ NOUN
attempt
▪ She glanced through the window in a half-hearted attempt to tell the hour.
▪ Later in the film, another teammate executes a half-hearted attempt to pull her aboard a fast-moving boat, leaving her behind.
▪ I'd only mentioned sheep in a half-hearted attempt to change the subject of conversation.
▪ But agile he isn't; witness this rather half-hearted attempt at the long jump.
▪ Khruschev's half-hearted attempt to oust Dej in 1957 encouraged him to look for allies to counter Soviet influence.
▪ For what did they know of her half-hearted attempts at abortion, the years' endurance.
▪ There were various more or less half-hearted attempts to get over the finality of this selection.
▪ The Conservative government has made a half-hearted attempt to tax company cars - half-hearted because it fears upsetting natural Tory voters.
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
▪ Her apology was very half-hearted.
▪ People are starting to criticize the government for its half-hearted approach to reform.
▪ Yves had made a half-hearted attempt to be friendly.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ A re-check should never be necessary, since this only implies the acceptance of a half-hearted check in the first place.
▪ Discs' efforts in this direction have been decidedly half-hearted.
▪ I'd only mentioned sheep in a half-hearted attempt to change the subject of conversation.
▪ Later in the film, another teammate executes a half-hearted attempt to pull her aboard a fast-moving boat, leaving her behind.
▪ Their criticism, however, was half-hearted.
▪ There was a half-hearted and unconvincing attempt to justify fins.
▪ We're also wondering why the university is now covering its butt legally with this half-hearted gesture.
▪ When I threw a half-hearted punch in his general direction, he knocked me down.
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Half-hearted

halfhearted \half"heart`ed\, Half-hearted \Half"-heart`ed\(-h[aum]rt`[e^]d), a.

  1. Wanting in heart or spirit; ungenerous; unkind.
    --B. Jonson.

  2. Lacking zeal or courage; performed with less than a full effort; lukewarm; unenthusiastic; as, a half-hearted attempt; -- of actions. [WordNet sense 1]
    --H. James.

Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
half-hearted

also halfhearted, early 15c.; see half + hearted. Related: halfheartedly; halfheartedness. English in 17c. also had half-headed "stupid."

Wiktionary
half-hearted

a. Not sincere; lacking full energy, effort, commitment, or resolve.

Usage examples of "half-hearted".

Suddenly he saw that some half-hearted attempt had been made to embellish the bleaky utilitarian structure with climbing plants, and that up the wall on one side of the door ran a scrap of denuded wooden trellis.

A half-hearted scuffle took place, and Mrs Botham limped down the passage to make her scandalized contribution.

He jest made a half-hearted attempt to bite me but all he done was to bite the buckle offa my gunbelt.

In his capacity of maid, with a basket on his arm, he went out into the little street, where in his shabby clothes he was recognized by none and leaned for a time against the mongrel, underfed tree that was hesitatingly greeting the spring with a few half-hearted leaves.

Smiling at her half-hearted invitation, Adonis grasped a bar in each hand and pried them apart.

Giving his king a half-hearted nod, Lukien turned and left the balcony, hoping Princess Cassandra refused her royal escort.

She cursed the homunculus under her breath, but even that release felt half-hearted.

Upon this the Boers made a half-hearted attempt, but Joubert had begun to realise the strength of the British reinforcements and the impossibility with the numbers at his disposal of investing a succession of British posts.

But either the burghers were half-hearted or there was no real intention to make a stand.

At dawn on September 22nd a half-hearted attempt was made by the commando of Erasmus to attack Elands River Station, but it was beaten back by the garrison.

Minogue thought of the pathetic fallacy and he made a half-hearted attempt to notice the school-children skipping by the pedestrians on the footpath.

The girl gave chase but in a half-hearted way as I scurried from corner to corner.

The shooting was sporadic, it almost sounded half-hearted in comparison with movie soundtracks, and it seemed to be moving here and there all around the cabins.

The thing that is really deadly to both is Conservatism of the half-hearted modern kind.

From some corner came a half-hearted "Olé," bespeaking in the far dark Croaker.