Meaning of by halves | Babel Free

Definitions

Partially, incompletely; inadequately, halfheartedly, shoddily.

idiomatic

Equivalents

Examples

“Thou fool, I ne'er do things by halves, Farthings are made for Irish slaves; No brass for me, it must be gold, Or fifty pounds in silver told.”

“I have no notion of loving people by halves; it is not my nature. My attachments are always excessively strong.”

“Johnson, who, as we have before remarked, rarely praised or dispraised things by halves, broke forth in a warm eulogy.”

“She was too thoroughgoing to do things by halves.”

“"When things happen to us in Latin America, it is never by halves. There is no equilibrium, so when it rains, towns get inundated and disappear, and when we have a revolution, half the population dies."”

“They don't do things by halves in the States. Whether it is cars, burgers or waistlines, Americans like to think bigger.”

CEFR level