- an amount equal to half of something/somebody
- I'll see you in half an hour.
- Half (of) the fruit was bad.
- Half of the money was mine.
- He has a half share in the company.
- Out of 36 candidates, half passed.
Grammar Point half / whole / quarterhalf / whole / quarter- Half, whole and quarter can all be nouns:
- Cut the apple into quarters.
- Two halves make a whole.
- Whole is also an adjective:
- I’ve been waiting here for a whole hour.
- Half is also a determiner:
- Half (of) the work is already finished.
- They spent half the time looking for a parking space.
- Her house is half a mile down the road.
- I waited for half an hour.
- I waited for a half an hour.
- Half can also be used as an adverb:
- This meal is only half cooked.
Language Bank proportionproportionDescribing fractions and proportions- According to this pie chart, a third of students’ leisure time is spent watching TV.
- One in five hours is/are spent socializing.
- Socializing accounts for/makes up/comprises about 20 per cent of leisure time.
- Students spend twice as much time playing computer games as doing sport.
- Three times as many hours are spent playing computer games as reading.
- The figure for playing computer games is three times higher than the figure for reading.
- The largest proportion of time is spent playing computer games.
Definitions on the go
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- half the time, fun, trouble, etc. the largest part of something
- Half the time you don't even listen to what I say.
- Half the fun of gardening is never knowing exactly what's going to come up.
Word OriginOld English half, healf, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch half and German halb (adjectives). The earliest meaning of the Germanic base was ‘side’, also a noun sense in Old English.
Idioms
See half in the Oxford Advanced American DictionarySee half in the Oxford Learner's Dictionary of Academic Englishhalf a loaf (is better than no bread)
- (saying) you should be grateful for something, even if it is not as good, much, etc. as you really wanted; something is better than nothing
- The offer only amounted to half a loaf, but campaigners grabbed it anyway.
half a minute, second, etc.
- (informal) a short time
- Hang on. I'll be ready in half a minute.
half past one, two, etc.
(also British English, informal half one, two, etc.)
- 30 minutes after any hour on the clockTopics Timea1
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