Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: BY HALVES |
BY HALVES1. By one half at once; halfway; fragmentarily; partially; incompletely. I can not believe by halves; either I have faith, or I have it not. --J. H. Newman. |
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Completion | Do thoroughly, not do by halves,go the whole hog; drive home; be in at the death; (persevere) a; carry through, play out, exhaust; fill the bill. |
Failure | Verb: fail; be unsuccessful; Adjective: not succeed; make vain efforts;Noun: do in vain, labor in vain, toil in vain; flunk; lose one's labor, take nothing by one's motion; bring to naught, make nothing of; wash a blackamoor white; (impossible); roll the stones of Sisyphus; (useless); do by halves; (not complete); lose ground; (recede); fall short of. |
Incompleteness | Adverb: incompletely; Adjective: by halves. |
Neglect | Scamp; trifle, fribble; do by halves; cut; slight; (despise); play with, trifle with; slur, skim, skim the surface; effleurer; take a cursory view of. |
Noncompletion | Fall short of; do things by halves, parboil, scotch the snake not lull it; hang fire; be slow to; collapse. |
Unskillfulness | Begin at the wrong end; do things by halves; (not complete); make two bites of a cherry; play at cross purposes; strain at a gnat and swallow a camel; (caprice); put the cart before the horse; lock the stable door when the horse is stolen; (too late). |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
| Author | Quotation |
Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe | To understand one thing well is better than understanding many things by halves. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | |
Expressions using "BY HALVES": do a thing by halves ♦ do by halves ♦ do things by halves ♦ not to do the things by halves. Additional references. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. |
| Language | Translations for "BY HALVES"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | ||||||||||
Albanian | bëj punë gjysmake (do things by halves). (various references) | ||||||||||
Czech | nedìlat nic polovièatì (not to do the things by halves). (various references) | ||||||||||
Finnish | puolittain (half). (various references) | ||||||||||
Hebrew | לחצאין. (various references) | ||||||||||
Hungarian | félmunkát végez (to do things by halves). (various references) | ||||||||||
Japanese Kanji | 中"半端 (half measures, halfway, incomplete, unfinished). (various references) | ||||||||||
Japanese Katakana | ちゅうとは"ぱ (half measures, halfway, incomplete, unfinished). (various references) | ||||||||||
Pig Latin | ybay alveshay face un lucru pe jumãtate (do a thing by halves). (various references) | ||||||||||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "a-b-e-h-l-s-v-y" | |
-2 letters: basely, belays, halves, shaley, shelvy, slavey, sylvae. | |
-3 letters: ables, abyes, bales, belay, blahs, blase, hales, halve, haves, heals, heavy, hylas, laves, leash, leavy, lyase, sable, salve, selah, selva, shale, shaly, shave, sheal, slave, sylva, vales, valse, veals, vealy. | |
-4 letters: able, ably, abye, abys, albs, ales, ashy, aves, ayes, bale, bals, base, bash, bays. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
| 1. Definition 2. Quotations: Familiar 3. Expressions 4. Translations: Modern | 5. Anagrams 6. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
