HALF (halves)

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

Irregular inflected form: halves   

 Dictionary entry overview: What does half mean? 

• HALF (noun)
  The noun HALF has 2 senses:

1. one of two equal parts of a divisible whole

2. one of two divisions into which some games or performances are divided: the two divisions are separated by an interval

  Familiarity information: HALF used as a noun is rare.

• HALF (adjective)
  The adjective HALF has 3 senses:

1. consisting of one of two equivalent parts in value or quantity

2. partial

3. (of siblings) related through one parent only

  Familiarity information: HALF used as an adjective is uncommon.

• HALF (adverb)
  The adverb HALF has 1 sense:

1. partially or to the extent of a half

  Familiarity information: HALF used as an adverb is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• HALF (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

One of two equal parts of a divisible whole

Classified under:

Nouns denoting quantities and units of measure

Synonyms:

half; one-half

Context example:

a century and one half

Hypernyms ("half" is a kind of...):

common fraction; simple fraction (the quotient of two integers)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "half"):

fifty percent (a half expressed as a percentage)

mediety; moiety (one of two (approximately) equal parts)

Sense 2

Meaning:

One of two divisions into which some games or performances are divided: the two divisions are separated by an interval

Classified under:

Nouns denoting time and temporal relations

Hypernyms ("half" is a kind of...):

division; part; section (one of the portions into which something is regarded as divided and which together constitute a whole)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "half"):

first half (the first of two halves of play)

last half; second half (the second of two halves of play)

Holonyms ("half" is a part of...):

football; football game (any of various games played with a ball (round or oval) in which two teams try to kick or carry or propel the ball into each other's goal)

basketball; basketball game; hoops (a game played on a court by two opposing teams of 5 players; points are scored by throwing the ball through an elevated horizontal hoop)

period of play; play; playing period ((in games or plays or other performances) the time during which play proceeds)

• HALF (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Consisting of one of two equivalent parts in value or quantity

Context example:

lasted a half hour

Similar:

fractional (constituting or comprising a part or fraction of a possible whole or entirety)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Partial

Context example:

he did only a half job

Similar:

incomplete; uncomplete (not complete or total; not completed)

Sense 3

Meaning:

(of siblings) related through one parent only

Context example:

half sister

Antonym:

whole ((of siblings) having the same parents)

• HALF (adverb)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Partially or to the extent of a half

Context example:

he was half hidden by the bushes

Pertainym:

half (consisting of one of two equivalent parts in value or quantity)

 Context examples 

The secret opening is half a mile onwards upon the other side of the river.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

He sat for a while very sorrowfully, then suddenly he felt in his pocket and found his tobacco pipe, which was still half full.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

Half a dozen jovial lads were talking about skates in another part of the room, and she longed to go and join them, for skating was one of the joys of her life.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

The exercise consists of half a chapter of Thucydides.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Less than half the distance between Earth and moon separates Rosetta from its destination, comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko.

(Rosetta closing in on comet, NASA)

His height was probably five feet ten inches, or ten and a half; but my first impression, or feel of the man, was not of this, but of his strength.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

Write your résumé (that takes weeks to perfect), and check your references so you are ready to push forward in April and the first half of May.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

This “opto-mechanical” attachment weighed less than half a pound.

(Smartphone microscope detects nanoparticles and viruses, NIH)

More than two million people replied they would attend and an additional million-and-a-half expressed interest in the event.

(Millions don't turn up to 'storm' US airbase for extraterrestrial evidence, Wikinews)

In the UK, more than a half of all women of reproductive age and almost a third of pregnant women are overweight or obese.

(Exercise in pregnancy improves health of obese mothers by restoring their tissues, University of Cambridge)