One of my first professional jobs was a paid internship at a very conservative firm. The managing partner, a woman, maintained a strict dress code that forbade sleeveless tops and dresses. To a young ...

Understanding the Context

The meaning of HALF is either of two equal parts that compose something; also : a part approximately equal to one of these. How to use half in a sentence. HALF definition: 1. either of the two equal or nearly equal parts that together make up a whole: 2.

Key Insights

a lot: 3. Half…. Learn more. Set in San Francisco, California, the show centers on the lives of two paternal half-sisters in their early adulthood who were estranged throughout their childhood, and are finally developing a close relationship. In English, the first sense (half past) is the only sense in current use.

Final Thoughts

The second sense (half-hour before) is almost exclusively used in reference to other cultural or linguistic backgrounds where a similar usage exists. 1. To the extent of exactly or nearly 50 percent: The tank is half empty. 2. Not completely or sufficiently; partly: only half right. There are 27 meanings listed in OED's entry for the noun half, six of which are labelled obsolete.

See ‘Meaning & use’ for definitions, usage, and quotation evidence. A prefix used to indicate that something is just half or done half, and therefore not total or fully done.