halfhearted

See also: half-hearted

English

Alternative forms

• half-hearted

Etymology

From half +‎ hearted.

Pronunciation

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Adjective

halfhearted (comparative more halfhearted, superlative most halfhearted)

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^[1]:

     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.
   • 1632 (first performance), Benjamin Jonson [i.e., Ben Jonson], “The Magnetick Lady: Or, Humors Reconcil’d. A Comedy […]”, in The Workes of Benjamin Jonson. The Second Volume. […] (Second Folio), London: […] Richard Meighen, published 1640, →OCLC:

     such animals,
     Half-hearted creatures, as these are, your fox there

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)
• Finnish: puolivillainen (fi), puolinainen, laimea (fi), penseä (fi), välinpitämätön (fi)
• French: mou (fr), peu enthousiaste
• German: halbherzig (de)
• Irish: fuarbhruite
• Italian: fiacco (it) m, incerto (it) m
• Maori: waimori
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: halvhjertet, halvhjerta

  Nynorsk: halvhjarta

• Polish: na pół gwizdka (pl)
• Spanish: sin gana
• Swedish: halvhjärtad (sv)
• Tagalog: tambisi
• Turkish: isteksiz (tr), gönülsüz (tr)

See also

• insincere
• tepid
• wholehearted

Further reading

• “halfhearted”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.