Halfheartedness
noun
noun ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
Noun
- 1 The characteristic of being halfhearted. uncountable
"But the halfheartedness of his acquiescence is instructive. This is the closest he has ever come to a betrayal — waffling on a cherished myth — despite repeatedly failing to deliver on so much of his supposedly radical political program."
- 2 the characteristic of being half-hearted; not sincere; lacking full energy, effort, commitment, or resolve. wordnet
Example
More examples"But the halfheartedness of his acquiescence is instructive. This is the closest he has ever come to a betrayal — waffling on a cherished myth — despite repeatedly failing to deliver on so much of his supposedly radical political program."
Etymology
From halfhearted + -ness.
Related phrases
More for "halfheartedness"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.