How to Use half-hearted in a Sentence

half-hearted

adjective
  • As Ballew went into a euro-step, Bedgood’s half-hearted jogs back up the court slowed to a halt.
    Luca Evans, Los Angeles Times, 11 Mar. 2023
  • What would the effort to retain him have been worth if the effort was only half-hearted?
    Dylan Hernández, Los Angeles Times, 10 June 2023
  • China and India even fought a short but full-scale war in 1962, which was followed by a half-hearted truce.
    Niharika Sharma, Quartz, 5 Apr. 2023
  • Sony’s support for the first PSVR was pretty half-hearted, after all.
    Jay Peters, The Verge, 23 June 2024
  • There’s been nothing half-hearted about what Kyle Davidson has done.
    Phil Thompson, Chicago Tribune, 10 May 2023
  • Some, however, voiced praise for Williamson's speech — even if half-hearted.
    Kyle Morris, Fox News, 5 Mar. 2023
  • His recent half-hearted statement of support for Hogan in his Senate race doesn’t change any of this.
    Frank Donatelli, Chicago Tribune, 20 June 2024
  • For their part, Mal and May made half-hearted efforts at percussion.
    Jordan Runtagh, Peoplemag, 31 Oct. 2023
  • The chiding between the two plays like a half-hearted version of Taika Waititi snark.
    Owen Gleiberman, Variety, 21 Dec. 2023
  • And Denny, who gets out of prison and back into Peggy’s life over her half-hearted objections.
    Robert Lloyd, Los Angeles Times, 16 May 2023
  • Nobody on screen is giving a half-hearted effort or going through the motions.
    Alan Sepinwall, Rolling Stone, 5 Nov. 2023
  • No hybrid-shoe drag or half-hearted attempts to traverse iffy terrain here.
    Isaiah Freeman-Schub, Robb Report, 7 Dec. 2023
  • Their half-hearted attempt to sign him to a long-term deal resulted in them losing him to the upstart Rangers three winters ago, however.
    Dylan Hernández, Los Angeles Times, 12 June 2024
  • His half-hearted attempt to apologize on a celebrity talk show only digs him in deeper.
    Peter Debruge, Variety, 20 Oct. 2023
  • This day, laden with expectation and excitement, deserves more than a half-hearted card or a generic box of chocolates.
    Cristian Esteban, Rolling Stone, 7 Feb. 2024
  • Much of what has been built over the past decade has been of the generic greige block type, banal four- or five-story apartments that stretch on endlessly, making half-hearted efforts to disguise their bulk.
    Mark Lamster, Dallas News, 12 Apr. 2023
  • Set in the early 2000’s, the series follows Gabby (Sidibe) is a young and aimless woman living with her mom and making half-hearted attempts to become a singer/model and overnight millionaire.
    Breanna Bell, Variety, 26 Apr. 2023
  • Facing a torrent of controversy over his flippant flub, Sliwa gave a half-hearted apology over calling the man a migrant.
    Thomas Tracy, New York Daily News, 9 Feb. 2024
  • Ultimately, though, these proposals feel weak and half-hearted.
    Evan Kindley, The New York Review of Books, 16 Feb. 2023
  • Trump later Tuesday appeared to criticize the efforts happening in Washington–in what could be read as a half-hearted endorsement of McCarthy.
    WSJ, 4 Oct. 2023
  • The comedic elements, even when featuring seasoned comedians like Chris Parnell (who appears as one-eyed vault dweller), often feel more like half-hearted ideas than actual bits.
    Nicholas Quah, Vulture, 10 Apr. 2024
  • Republicans have listened and have made half-hearted, dishonest pledges to protect those arguments.
    Alex Shephard, The New Republic, 28 Mar. 2023
  • Marcello is drawn to Aimée’s Maddalena, who is beautiful and exceptionally rich but also bored and apathetic, and his wooing of her is half-hearted.
    Carmel Dagan, Variety, 18 June 2024
  • However, Twitter, in an apparently half-hearted effort, put together a report of mere 80 pages.
    Mimansa Verma, Quartz, 29 May 2023
  • Monk heads to a bar, still armored in his regal half-hearted cheerfulness but on the brink of his alternate register, a discreetly exasperated-ecstatic one.
    Harmony Holiday, The New Yorker, 18 Mar. 2023
  • Youngkin’s seemingly half-hearted efforts to get the attention of the former president could be further evidence that the governor was never interested in the role as Trump’s vice president, after all.
    Elizabeth Beyer, USA TODAY, 15 June 2024
  • The hypothesis, unconfirmed, is that the collab is a half-hearted attempt at generating brand awareness among the Midwestern and Floridian disposable incomes that might become a route to expansion.
    Lauren Oyler, Harper’s Magazine , 10 Apr. 2023
  • So far, post-credits teasers bridging Sony’s spin-offs to Disney’s own continuity via interdimensional travel have been seen as half-hearted and, ultimately, unsuccessful.
    J. Kim Murphy, Variety, 29 Jan. 2024
  • But those responsible typically offer only half-hearted apologies or remain unrepentant, while their millions of views discourage reflection.
    WIRED, 28 July 2023
  • Bowles also criticized investigators for a half-hearted investigation into the source of the bullets during the Gutierrez Reed trial.
    Gene Maddaus, Variety, 11 July 2024

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'half-hearted.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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