do by half-measures
do by half-measures is the alternative form of do by halves.
Meaning of do by halves
Verb
do by halves (third-person singular simple present does by halves, present participle doing by halves, simple past did by halves, past participle done by halves)
- To perform (a task, etc) partially or incompletely; to do (something) inadequately, halfheartedly, or shoddily.
- [A] pedestrian tour of Europe could not be complete without them. Of course that decided me at once to see them, for I never allow myself to do things by halves, or in a slurring, slipshod way.1880, Mark Twain, chapter 30, in A Tramp Abroad
Forms of do by half-measures
| third-person singular present | does by half-measures |
|---|---|
| present participle | doing by half-measures |
| past | did by half-measures |
| past participle | done by half-measures |
Questions about do by half-measures
- What is do by half-measures the alternative form of?
- Do by half-measures is the alternative form of do by halves.
Words near do by half-measures in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: do by half-measures (page history and authors); do by halves (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Cite this entry: “do by half-measures.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/do_by_half-measures. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.