Word.ws English Dictionary

half-arse

UK/hɑːfɑːs/

half-arse is the alternative spelling of half-ass.

Meaning of half-ass

Adjective

half-ass (comparative more half-ass, superlative most half-ass)

  1. (slang, vulgar) Produced in an incompetent or desultory manner, or of something lacking in quality or substance; of low rank; incompetent.
    • the only abortion she could get even in the city would be a half-ass job by some half-ass doctor who could mess her up for the rest of her life1969, The End of the Road by John Barth (page 155)
    Synonyms:
    half-assed

See all 2 meanings of half-ass

Forms of half-arse

Adjective
comparativemore half-arse
superlativemost half-arse
Verb
third-person singular presenthalf-arses
present participlehalf-arsing
past participlehalf-arsed
pasthalf-arsed

Questions about half-arse

What is half-arse the alternative spelling of?
Half-arse is the alternative spelling of half-ass.
How do you pronounce half-arse?
Half-arse is pronounced /hɑːfɑːs/ (UK).

Words near half-arse in the dictionary

  1. half-and-halfs
  2. half-angel
  3. half-angels
  4. half-ape
  5. half-apes
  6. half-arse
  7. half-arsed
  8. half-asleep
  9. half-ass
  10. half-assed
  11. half-assedly

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: half-arse (page history and authors); half-ass (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.

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Cite this entry: “half-arse.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/half-arse. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.