halve

\ ˈhav

How to pronounce halve (audio)

, ˈhäv \

halved; halving

Definition of halve

transitive verb

1a : to divide into two equal parts

b : to reduce to one half halving the present cost

c : to share equally

2 golf : to play (a hole, round, or match) in the same number of strokes as one's opponent I lost the next two holes to pars, then halved the fourth by missing an easy putt.— David Owen

Examples of halve in a Sentence

The store is halving the price of many summer items.

Recent Examples on the Web The proposals reflect growing congressional concern that Mr. Trump’s plan to halve U.S. troop levels in Germany would weaken the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. — Michael R. Gordon, WSJ, "Lawmakers Move to Block Trump From Pulling U.S. Troops From Germany," 30 June 2020 Airlines worldwide are likely to lose $84 billion and see their revenues halve this year, according to the International Air Transport Association, which expects 2020 to go down as the worst year financially in the history of aviation. — Angus Whitley, Fortune, "Bain Capital makes a giant bet on the beleaguered airline industry," 26 June 2020 More than 50 Irish companies are following through on a 2015 pledge to halve their carbon footprints. — Lindsey Mcginnis, The Christian Science Monitor, "Points of Progress: Argentina works to combat anti-Semitism, and more," 19 June 2020 The pandemic has shattered businesses from retail to tourism and automobiles, with Indonesia’s economic growth now forecast to halve to 2.3% from a year earlier and even contract 0.4% in a worst-case scenario. — Tassia Sipahutar, Bloomberg.com, "Virus Shock Sparks Profit Warnings From Indonesian Firms," 2 June 2020 To Sanjay Raja, an economist at Deutsche Bank AG, a no-deal Brexit would halve the pace of growth next year to 1.5%. — Jill Ward, Bloomberg.com, "No-Deal Brexit Threat Looms Over Pandemic-Ravaged U.K.," 1 June 2020 Lufthansa shares, which have nearly halved this year, closed at 8.64 euros in Frankfurt trading. — Fortune, "Germany will take Lufthansa stake in landmark $9.8 billion bailout," 25 May 2020 Lufthansa's stock, which has nearly halved this year, closed at €8.64 ($9.41) in Frankfurt on Monday. — Hanna Ziady, CNN, "Lufthansa clinches $10 billion bailout from German government," 25 May 2020 The Affordable Care Act, which almost halved the proportion of uninsured black Americans below the age of 65, was most strongly fought by several states with large proportions of black citizens. — Ed Yong, The Atlantic, "We Live in a Patchwork Pandemic Now," 20 May 2020

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'halve.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Keep scrolling for more

Learn More about halve

Dictionary Entries near halve

Statistics for halve

Last Updated

4 Jul 2020

Cite this Entry

“Halve.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/halve. Accessed 13 Jul. 2020.

Keep scrolling for more

More Definitions for halve

halve

verb

English Language Learners Definition of halve

: to divide (something) into two equal parts : to divide (something) into halves

: to reduce (something) to one half of the original amount or size

See the full definition for halve in the English Language Learners Dictionary

halve

\ ˈhav

, ˈhäv \

halved; halving

Kids Definition of halve

1 : to divide into two equal parts I halved an apple.

2 : to reduce to one half He halved the recipe.

Keep scrolling for more

WORD OF THE DAY

parsimonious

See Definitions and Examples »

Test Your Vocabulary

Words for Summer: A Quiz

Which of the following words means “of or relating to summer”?

Can you spell these 10 commonly misspelled words?

Test Your Knowledge - and learn some interesting things along the way.