HALFWAY (halfways)

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

Irregular inflected form: halfways   

 Dictionary entry overview: What does halfway mean? 

• HALFWAY (adjective)
  The adjective HALFWAY has 3 senses:

1. equally distant from the extremes

2. at a point midway between two extremes

3. including only half or a portion

  Familiarity information: HALFWAY used as an adjective is uncommon.

• HALFWAY (adverb)
  The adverb HALFWAY has 1 sense:

1. at half the distance; at the middle

  Familiarity information: HALFWAY used as an adverb is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• HALFWAY (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Equally distant from the extremes

Synonyms:

center; halfway; middle; midway

Similar:

central (in or near a center or constituting a center; the inner area)

Sense 2

Meaning:

At a point midway between two extremes

Context example:

at the halfway mark

Similar:

intermediate (lying between two extremes in time or space or state)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Including only half or a portion

Context example:

halfway measures

Similar:

fractional (constituting or comprising a part or fraction of a possible whole or entirety)

• HALFWAY (adverb)

Sense 1

Meaning:

At half the distance; at the middle

Synonyms:

halfway; midway

Context example:

he was halfway down the ladder when he fell

 Context examples 

A group of islands in the Indian Ocean, south of Indonesia, about halfway from Australia to Sri Lanka.

(Cocos (Keeling) Islands, NCI Thesaurus/CDISC)

With an even number of values, the conventional median is halfway between the two middle values.

(Median, NCI Thesaurus/CDISC)

It's 'Overdue,' of course, and I'm just about halfway through.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

At the latitude of this deposit — about halfway from the equator to the pole — water ice cannot persist on the surface of Mars today.

(Mars Ice Deposit Holds as Much Water as Lake Superior, NASA)

By comparison, our sun is about 5 billion years old and thought to be about halfway through its lifetime.

(NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory Finds Planet That Makes Star Act Deceptively Old, NASA)

One of Pluto’s most identifiable features, Cthulhu stretches nearly halfway around Pluto’s equator, starting from the west of the great nitrogen ice plains known as Sputnik Planum.

(Methane Snow on Pluto’s Peaks, NASA)

Halfway down, Lestrade stopped and tapped at a door, which was opened by a small servant girl.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The ordinal direction halfway between north and east.

(Northeast, NCI Thesaurus)

Holmes sat up at attention, his pipe halfway to his lips.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Matt paused halfway down the gang-plank.

(White Fang, by Jack London)