half-cocked

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of half-cocked That cycle has lasted decades, a past strewn with half-cocked plans, bankruptcies, struggling businesses, recriminations, and a neighborhood that refuses to give up on itself or surrender its personality. Justin Davidson, Curbed, 21 May 2025 And yet, all of a sudden, there was the commotion typical of when a manager walks into a room deep in a stadium as reporters rush to put their phones on the desk and stumble awkwardly, laptops half-cocked, back to their seats. James Horncastle, The Athletic, 30 Dec. 2024 The way reason permeated the front offices has bled onto the field, and the players are more reasonable, more rational and not likely to go off half-cocked. Ryan Gaydos, Fox News, 25 Sep. 2024
Recent Examples of Synonyms for half-cocked
Adjective
  • At work instead is a kind of half-baked feminist phrenology.
    Graham Hillard, The Washington Examiner, 22 Aug. 2025
  • The show follows a half-baked film major (Settel) from LA, who is sent to NYC to stay with- and make a documentary about- his uncle (Feitelberg), a supposedly ultra-suc-cessful Broadway actor.
    Justin Kroll, Deadline, 18 Aug. 2025
Adjective
  • However, long-term makeup storage is ill-advised.
    Hallie Milstein, Southern Living, 2 Sep. 2025
  • While the design possibilities are seemingly endless, there are a few places where Osburn and Butcher say zellige tile could be ill-advised.
    Patricia Shannon, Better Homes & Gardens, 1 Sep. 2025
Adjective
  • Citing a 1993 Florida law statute and a Miami Dade County ordinance, Fernandez said his office will revoke or refuse to renew local business tax receipts, formerly known as occupational licenses, for people or entities engaging in unauthorized business activities with Cuba.
    Nora Gamez Torres, Miami Herald, 6 Sep. 2025
  • American social media influencer Ethan Guo has been released from a Chilean military base in Antarctica after spending two months in detention following an unauthorized landing.
    Adeola Adeosun, MSNBC Newsweek, 6 Sep. 2025
Adjective
  • Butler never imagined Zimmerer – a typically non-spontaneous person – would drop everything to book a flight and travel more than 1,500 miles from Nebraska to be there.
    Tereza Shkurtaj, PEOPLE, 7 Sep. 2025
  • Earlier in the tournament, Sinner said that their meetings now will never be quite as spontaneous as the epic five-setter here three years ago, which announced their rivalry to the world.
    Charlie Eccleshare, New York Times, 6 Sep. 2025
Adjective
  • More broadly, this instinctive punching left at anything that smacks of gender, or academics, or whatever else the center is scared of, is never about language.
    James Folta, Literary Hub, 4 Sep. 2025
  • Several noted that his instinctive tug had likely prevented the pair from colliding with the elk.
    Melissa Fleur Afshar, MSNBC Newsweek, 2 Sep. 2025

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Cite this Entry

“Half-cocked.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/half-cocked. Accessed 9 Sep. 2025.

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