Word.ws English Dictionary

half-time

half-time noun: the interval between the two halves of a sports match.

Noun

half-time (countable and uncountable, plural half-times)

  1. The interval between the two halves of a sports match.
    • Let's get some pizza at half-time.
  2. (attributive, sometimes) Half or approximately half the number of hours usually worked in a specified period.
    • I'm following a half-time schedule this month.
  3. A tempo in which the rhythm is emphasized so that it seems to have half as many metric divisions (e.g. emphasizing the start of every other bar rather than every bar).
  4. The time taken for a physical quantity to halve the difference between its present value and its final value.

Adjective

half-time (not comparable)

  1. Pertaining to or characterized by half the usual duration.
    • The remedy proposed is half-time schools. The teachers are to be engaged for a school year's service, but the pupils belonging to each school are to be divided into two sections. Each section is to spend half the time in school and the remainder at home.1884, The Ohio Educational Monthly, page 544
    • The remaining federal and State programs provide aid to part-time students only if attendance is half-time or more (at least six credit-hours).1979, United States. Congress. House. Committee on Education and Labor. Subcommittee on Postsecondary Education, Reauthorization of the Higher Education Act and Related Measures: Hearings Before the...

Adverb

half-time (not comparable)

  1. In a half time manner.
    • I'm working half-time this month (two and a half days per week) before my maternity leave.

half-time meaning in Malay

half-time in Malay

sports: interval between halves
separuh masa

Forms of half-time

pluralhalf-times
alternative formhalftime
alternative formhalf time

Origin of half-time

From half- + time.

Words formed from half-time

Questions about half-time

What does half-time mean?
Half-time means the interval between the two halves of a sports match.
What is half-time in Malay?
Half-time in Malay is separuh masa. See Half-time meaning in Malay.
What part of speech is half-time?
Half-time can be a noun, an adjective or an adverb.
What is the plural of half-time?
The plural of half-time is half-times.

Words near half-time in the dictionary

  1. half-timber
  2. half-timbered
  3. half-timbering
  4. half-timberings
  5. half-timbers
  6. half-time
  7. half-timer
  8. half-timers
  9. half-times
  10. half-tint
  11. half-tints

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: half-time (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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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-half-time.wav.

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