How to Use half-hearted in a Sentence

half-hearted

adjective
  • Their skating looked slow next to the Lightning, their puck battles were half-hearted and so on.
    — Aaron Portzline, The Athletic, 18 Dec. 2024
  • 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
  • As punishment to their men for this half-hearted date, Alexa and Tayler spend their entire date talking about their boyfriends.
    — Charlotte Walsh, Vulture, 12 Mar. 2025
  • But each effort is half-hearted and poorly formed outside of Yeoh herself.
    — Angelica Jade Bastién, Vulture, 7 Feb. 2025
  • The chiding between the two plays like a half-hearted version of Taika Waititi snark.
    — Owen Gleiberman, Variety, 21 Dec. 2023
  • In the case of settler violence, such efforts appear to be sporadic and half-hearted.
    — Gershom Gorenberg, The Atlantic, 19 Dec. 2024
  • 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
  • But then a patient-of-the-week drama gets crashed together with this half-hearted Sherlock mythology and the wheels fall right off.
    — Kelly Lawler, USA TODAY, 26 Jan. 2025
  • 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
  • How can Ukraine win this fight with indecisive and half-hearted allies?
    — Dan Perry, Newsweek, 17 Dec. 2024
  • Trump’s longtime, but perhaps half-hearted, bid to purchase Greenland was rebuffed in his first term.
    — Ramsey Touchberry, Washington Examiner - Political News and Conservative Analysis About Congress, the President, and the Federal Government, 26 Dec. 2024
  • But the suspense is half-hearted, and the picture’s vaporous approach to incident remains.
    — Bilge Ebiri, Vulture, 8 Nov. 2024
  • 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
  • There are many shows left before Nov. 5, so get ready for a lot of grunting half-hearted Trump voices and Rudolph making a wide range of perplexed expressions.
    — Kelly Lawler, USA TODAY, 4 Oct. 2024
  • His half-hearted attempt to apologize on a celebrity talk show only digs him in deeper.
    — Peter Debruge, Variety, 20 Oct. 2023
  • The status quo of half-hearted diplomacy in the Pacific will not suffice at a time when China is ramping up its presence in the region.
    — Charles Edel, Foreign Affairs, 10 Oct. 2024
  • Youngkin had made half-hearted overtures to the former president on social media and in cable news segments.
    — Elizabeth Beyer, USA TODAY, 15 June 2024
  • 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
  • Tim Burton before all those half-hearted Disney remakes.
    — Constance Grady, Vox, 6 Sep. 2024
  • 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
  • That blandness has gone hand in hand with a shifty political opportunism, marked by half-hearted representational milestones—Ariel is Black!
    — Justin Chang, The New Yorker, 22 Mar. 2025

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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