Word.ws English Dictionary

How to use half in a sentence

40 example sentences · noun, adjective, adverb

Half means one of two usually roughly equal parts into which anything may be divided, or considered as divided. Example: “I ate the smaller half of the apple.”

Examples of half by meaning

nounOne of two usually roughly equal parts into which anything may be divided, or considered as divided.

  • I ate the smaller half of the apple.
  • You don’t know the half of it.
  • Of the passengers on the plane, half were English.

nounOne of two equal periods into which a game is divided.

  • An association football match usually consists of two halves of 45 minutes each.

nounHalf a pint of beer or cider. (Refusing a pint) Just a half, thank you. (Offering to top up a pint glass) Do you want a...

  • He came back with a pint of Guinness for me and a half of bitter for Wendy.1968, John Braine, The Crying Game, Houghton Mifflin, page 11
  • I accepted a half of bitter from him.1974, James Herriot, All Things Bright and Beautiful, St. Martin's Press,, →ISBN
  • "Not brandy," she replied, "but I could use a long drink - maybe a half of lager."2006, Bill Appleton, Wide Boy, Pegasus Elliot Mackenzie, →ISBN, page 168

nounA barrel measure of 27 gallons (half a hogshead).

  • Barrels came in firkins, nine gallons; kilderkins, eighteen gallons; halves, twenty-seven gallons; barrels, thirty-six gallons and hogsheads, fifty-four.1987, Keith Dunstan, The Amber Nectar, Ringwood: Vicking O'Neil, page 81

nounThe fraction obtained by dividing 1 by 2.

  • Three-quarters minus a quarter is a half.

nounA half sibling.

  • So for Richard and Barbara, Jeff and Kari, the impossibly varied collection of steps and halves that is another legacy of my father.2016, Robert M. Herzog, A World Between

adjectiveConsisting of a half (½, 50%).

  • a half kilo
  • a half hour
  • a half dollar

adjectiveConsisting of some indefinite portion resembling a half; approximately a half, whether more or less; partial; imperfect.

  • a half truth

More sentences with half

  • The abbreviated lesson only took fifteen minutes as opposed to an hour and a half.From the entry abbreviated
  • After the past week of forced marches, only half the men are fully able.From the entry able
  • He wants half of the take if he helps with the job.From the entry take
  • I found a poor little cat. It seems to be half starving.From the entry it
  • You look like someone drug you behind a horse for half a mile.From the entry drug
  • If I won the lottery, I would give half the money to charity.From the entry would
  • This stick is quite long, but that other one is half as long again.From the entry again
  • This hill will take a good hour and a half to climb.From the entry good
  • A thousand quid for that motor? Do me a lemon! I could get it for half that.From the entry lemon
  • We should soak the kiln at cone 9 for half an hour.From the entry soak
  • After eyeing the document for half an hour, she decided not to sign it.From the entry eye
  • Smith managed to extend her lead over the second place to half a second.From the entry lead
  • The player next to the dealer makes a cut by placing the bottom half on top.From the entry cut
  • The two boxers have been fighting for more than half an hour.From the entry fight
  • The two streets meet at a crossroad half a mile away.From the entry meet
  • I have a tendency to get bored after the first half an hour of a movie.From the entry tendency
  • A tale is but half told, if only one person tells it.From the entry told
  • That new musician must be tone deaf: he sharped half the notes of the song!From the entry sharp
  • The bartender's inexpert pour left me with a pint of beer that was half foam.From the entry pour
  • Horses became obsolete means of transportation in cities in the first half of the twentieth century.From the entry obsolete
  • The plane flew in a holding pattern for half an hour because one runway was closed.From the entry holding pattern
  • She ordered her coffee with cream and a splash of half and half.From the entry half and half
  • The solution was made of water and milk in equal half and half parts.From the entry half and half
  • Dara doesn't believe in using dating apps - she insists that destiny will find her other half.From the entry destiny
  • There is half a glass of milk in each pound of chocolate we produce.From the entry glass
  • Don't try to make a deep copy of that: you'll pull in half the database.From the entry deep copy

Meaning of half

  1. noun One of two usually roughly equal parts into which anything may be divided, or considered as divided.
  2. noun One of two equal periods into which a game is divided.
  3. noun One of the two opposite parts of the playing field of various sports, in which each starts the game.

Full definition of half

Questions about half in a sentence

How do you use half in a sentence?
Half is used as a noun, adjective and adverb. For example: “I ate the smaller half of the apple.”
What is a short sentence with half?
“a half dollar”
What does half mean?
Half means one of two usually roughly equal parts into which anything may be divided, or considered as divided.

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: half (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this page: “How to use half in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/half. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.