Halfhearted means done without real enthusiasm. The effort was made and everybody could tell it was not much of one.
It attaches to attempts, apologies and smiles, and a halfhearted apology is often worse than none at all. The word describes the manner rather than the result, so a halfhearted effort can still succeed by luck. British English usually hyphenates it. Its opposite, wholehearted, is a genuine compliment, and putting your whole heart into something is the fuller version of the same idea.
1adjectivehalfheartedDone without real effort or enthusiasm.
“He made a halfhearted attempt to tidy up.”
Also accepted in games: half-hearted
From half + hearted.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA
Practised in A Man Called Ove, A Song of Ice and Fire
First appears in chapter 28 of A Man Called Ove.
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