quarter-heartedly

comparative more quarter-heartedly · superlative most quarter-heartedly

1. idiomaticIn a quarter-hearted manner.

   I tried to play the game—whole-heartedly at first, then half-heartedly, then quarter-heartedly.

   1964, Helen Gurley Brown, Sex and the Office, page 87

   2 more examples

   Alfonso despises Annetta, Annetta despises Alfonso, and they continue to court each other quarter-heartedly.

   1966, D. J. Enright, Conspirators and Poets, page 168

   My ex, Nick, an introvert, danced with me once in five years: quarter-heartedly, for thirty-eight seconds, at his best friend's wedding, and only after I'd threatened to embarrass him by dancing on my own if he didn't.

   2011, Stella Newman, Pear-Shaped, page 9