Meanings
plural half-staffs · alternative half staff · alternative halfstaff
- CanadaPhilippinesUSsometimesHalf-mast.
[T]he flags at Ottawa fire stations were lowered to half-staff in tribute.
2008 August 5, “Two men electrocuted fixing flat on firetruck”, in Ottawa Citizen, Canada, retrieved 29 Aug 20113 more examples
[T]he agents of the steamship lines drowned their sorrow in rum and ran the house flags to half-staff.
c. 1900, Richard Harding Davis, Billy and the Big StickMarshal Joseph Pilsudski, Poland's man of power, died here tonight. . . . Flags were lowered to half staffs.
1935 May 13, “Ninth Anniversary of Coup”, in New York Times, page 6President Bush's decision to honor Pope John Paul II by ordering flags lowered to half-staff on all public buildings has reignited a debate about the separation of church and state.
2005 April 6, Felisa Cardona, “Flag order spurs controversy”, in Denver Post, archived from the original on 07 Mar 2016, retrieved 29 Aug 2011, page B-01
Synonyms & antonyms
nouna position some distance below the top of a mast to which a flag is lowered in mourning or to signal distress
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Cite this entry
half-staff. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/half-staff
“half-staff.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/half-staff. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “half-staff,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/half-staff.
Source: half-staff on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.