half-assed adj.
careless, inadequate, incompetent, second-rate.
![]() | Northern Whig (Hudson, NY) 5 Apr. 3/4: Having arrived with his Phalanx opposite the house of a certain gentleman, he ordered them to halt, and then addressed them — ‘Republicans! I have got so hoarse I cannot halloo -- you must cry out -- “C********** H****! *the half-arsed tory! -- Huzza!*”’ -- which was three times repeated by his ‘*republican*’ companions, to the great mirth and amusement of a crowd of negro wenches, which by this time had joined their standard. | |
![]() | in Stories the Soldiers Wouldn’t Tell (1994) ) 47: There goes our half-assed Adjutant. | |
![]() | AS VII:5 333: half-assed—mediocre; insignificant. | ‘Johns Hopkins Jargon’ in|
![]() | Prison Days and Nights 25: They [...] let us have three half-arse meals a day and a cell to sleep in at night. | |
![]() | (con. 1944) Gallery (1948) 87: Only the half-arsed poets invented love as a force that has nothing to do with anything. | |
![]() | Sexus (1969) 134: Only a half-assed painter would deny the value of Cezanne’s work. | |
![]() | From Here to Eternity (1998) 431: ‘What is pseudo?’ Prewitt asked. ‘It means half-assed,’ Angelo said. [Ibid.] 886: But a half-assed fool couldnt do it, any more than a half-assed fool could do anything, and do it well. | |
![]() | Cat on a Hot Tin Roof Act II: big daddy: That half-ass story! brick: What’s half-ass about it? | |
![]() | (con. 1940s) Borstal Boy 99: Such a half-arsed class of story I never heard. | |
![]() | (con. 1940s) Wax Boom 286: The Krauts [...] wouldn’t have budged toward that mountain with the half-ass strength they had. | |
![]() | Two Faces of January (1988) 226: He wasn’t going to be a pushover for Rydal Keener, that spineless vagabond, that half-assed soldier of fortune. | |
![]() | All Night Stand 189: ‘I haven’t got the bread.’ [...] ‘Course you have, you half-arsed git.’. | |
![]() | Jones Men 161: You’re trying to screw me out of a good thing [...] with your half-ass way of doing shit. | |
![]() | Tales of the City (1984) 187: What the hell does she need with some half-assed lover who’s got the hots for tile bathrooms. | |
![]() | Breaking Out 125: A little half-arsed cattle town. | |
![]() | On the Stroll 151: If you lose your nerve and get ready to blow after your first little half-ass freak, then how’m I ever gonna trust you? | |
![]() | Song of the Silent Snow (1988) 11: Danny, a half-assed hustler from 43rd Street. | |
![]() | Fixx 240: No budget, Daddy’s money, and some half-arsed scheme. | |
![]() | Dead Sea Poems 7: Square eyes, half-arse O.U. student. | ‘C.V.’ in|
![]() | Amaze Your Friends (2019) 58: I became a kind of half-arsed private eye. | (con. late 1950s)|
![]() | Night Dogs 14: A nappy, half-assed afro. | |
![]() | Yes We Have No 7: Rather an ardent fascist than a half-arsed liberal. | |
![]() | Observer Rev. 5 Sept. 8: We did the right thing – OK, in a half-assed sort of way. | |
![]() | Tuff 150: By [...] accepting Inez’s money he’s made a half-ass commitment to his life. | |
![]() | Guardian Guide 8–14 Jan. 12: A horribly half-arsed storyline. | |
![]() | Night Gardener 99: He’d see Asa on the football field, making half-assed tackles. | |
![]() | Atomic Lobster 70: ‘You have to go back that far?’ ‘I don’t do half-ass history.’. | |
![]() | Truth 82: Vickery and a cop called Gary Plaice almost killed a half-arsed little robber called Ivanovich. | |
![]() | Panopticon (2013) 181: Get up, fuck about, have the odd half-arsed meeting. | |
![]() | Old Scores [ebook] ‘How did a half-arsed operation like this get in with a Conlan corporation?’. | |
![]() | The Force [ebook] Every half-ass low level dope slinger Torres ever ripped. | |
![]() | Word Is Bone [ebook] Rap music’s half-assed excuse for English. | |
![]() | February’s Son 212: ‘Those clowns that did this? Scobie’s half-arsed boys?’. | |
![]() | (con. 1962) Enchanters 80: ‘I have more than a ‘half-assed’ urge to talk’. |