half-baked

adjective

ˈhaf-ˈbākt 

ˈhäf-

1

a

: poorly developed or carried out

a half-baked idea

half-baked research

b

: lacking adequate planning or forethought

a half-baked scheme for getting rich

c

: lacking in judgment, intelligence, or common sense

2

: imperfectly baked : underdone

Synonyms

• absurd
• asinine
• balmy
• brainless
• bubbleheaded
• cockeyed
• crackpot
• crazy
• cuckoo
• daffy
• daft
• dippy
• dotty
• fatuous
• featherheaded
• fool
• foolish
• half-witted
• harebrained
• inept
• insane
• jerky
• kooky
• kookie
• loony
• looney
• lunatic
• lunkheaded
• mad
• nonsensical
• nutty
• preposterous
• sappy
• screwball
• senseless
• silly
• simpleminded
• stupid
• tomfool
• unwise
• wacky
• whacky
• weak-minded
• witless
• zany

Examples of half-baked in a Sentence

he's always got some half-baked "solution" to a difficult, complex problem

Recent Examples on the Web

Campaigns are aspirational, filled with half-baked proposals designed to send a message rather than establish a set of solid governing priorities. —Joseph Thorndike, Forbes, 4 Nov. 2024

Slow Horses’s success is not an Apple TV+ thing, either — Apple shows with longer runways like Ted Lasso and For All Mankind have had just as uneven and half-baked seasons as long-running series from other outlets. —Kathryn Vanarendonk, Vulture, 9 Oct. 2024

Just an hour earlier, this would’ve sounded like half-baked Zen. —Johannes Lichtman, Travel + Leisure, 26 Oct. 2024

Sure, his lyrics are half-baked, but that’s fine because there is so much emotion everywhere else. —Alphonse Pierre, Pitchfork, 18 Oct. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1621, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Kids Definition

half-baked

adjective

-ˈbākt

1

a

: poorly developed or carried out

a half-baked plan

b

: lacking in judgment or common sense

half-baked ideas

2

: imperfectly baked : underdone