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Late 1700s
- Where does the adverb half-heartedly come from? Earliest known use late 1700s is formed within English, by derivation.
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‘Whole-hearted’ first saw the light of day in the 19th century, while ‘half-hearted’ is medieval. ‘Half-hearted’ is a derivative of the slightly earlier ‘faint-hearted’. The metaphorical concept of ‘heart’ is at the root of faint-hearted and half-hearted.
The earliest known use of the word half-hearted is in the late 1500s. OED's earliest evidence for half-hearted is from 1579, in the writing of John Stubbs, religious writer. half-hearted is formed within English, by compounding.
tepid. Fewer examples. This half-hearted approach is unlikely to get results. He tried to help in a halfhearted sort of way. There is no point in being half-hearted about change — you have to commit. Enforcement of the rules was half-hearted at best. She tried to smile, but it was half hearted. SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases.
After the war he returned, half-heartedly, to journalism. I laugh half-heartedly when the agent jokes about me being his bodyguard for a day. The police only half-heartedly searched for the stolen car, assuming that it had probably already been cut up for parts.
Definition of half-heartedly adverb in Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary. Meaning, pronunciation, picture, example sentences, grammar, usage notes, synonyms and more.
Word Family. half-heartedly. the "half-heartedly" family. without enthusiasm; in a half-hearted manner.
