do by half-measures

A form of do by halves — To perform (a task, etc) partially or incompletely; to do (something) inadequately, halfheartedly, or shoddily.

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Meanings

verbdo by half-measures (third-person singular simple present does by half-measures, present participle doing by half-measures, simple past did by half-measures, past participle done by half-measures)

present singular third person does by half-measures · participle present doing by half-measures · past did by half-measures · participle past done by half-measures

  1. alternativeAlternative form of do by halves.

    Brigham Young never did anything by half measures.

    2013, Ed Breslin, Brigham Young: A Concise Biography of the Mormon Moses, page 31
    2 more examples

    Geert Groote, founder of the Brothers and Sisters of the Common Life, was an enormously appealing, highly idiosyncratic figure of tremendous energy and talent – a man who did nothing, ever, by half measures.

    1996, Eknath Easwaran, Seeing with the Eyes of Love

    And therefore it was especially his disdain for mediocrity and for doing things by half measures that made him expect something from the Party, which had promised to do something decisive and to contradict communism effectively.

    2019, Graeme Nicholson, Heidegger on Truth: Its Essence and Its Fate, page 84
Cite this entry
APA

do by half-measures. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/do%20by%20half-measures

MLA

“do by half-measures.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/do%20by%20half-measures. Accessed November 5, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “do by half-measures,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/do%20by%20half-measures.

Source: do by half-measures on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.