halfhearted

comparative more halfhearted · superlative most halfhearted · alternative half-hearted

1. Lacking full energy, effort, commitment, or resolve.

   Near-synonym: half-assed

   2 more examples

   He made a halfhearted attempt to read the chapter before giving up and dozing off.

   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.

   2012 May 9, Jonathan Wilson, “Europa League: Radamel Falcao's Atlético Madrid rout Athletic Bilbao”, in the Guardian

   Synonyms: lukewarm, tepid, adiaphroistic, apathetic, apathistical, blasé, blithe, deaf

2. obsoleteLacking in heart or beneficence; ungenerous; unkind.

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

   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, (please specify the act number in uppercase Roman numerals, and the scene number in lowercase Roman numerals)

   Synonyms: heartless, mean-spirited, inconsiderate, insensitive, mean, mean-spirited, merciless, petty