as in half-baked
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Recent Examples of half-cocked
His paranoia, played with clumsy charm by a mustachioed and bleary-eyed Leonardo DiCaprio, is half-cocked and somewhat comical.
—
David Sims, The Atlantic, 18 Sep. 2025
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
David Sims, The Atlantic, 18 Sep. 2025
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
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Nevertheless, Hollywood could soon notice an AI backlash that hurts its bottom line so long as studios are pushing it as both a half-baked dramatic theme and a transformative tool.—
Miles Klee,
Wired News,
5 Feb. 2026
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His authoritarian moves can be half-baked and primitive, such as the firing of the head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics for releasing economic data that Trump wished were not true.—
Marc Novicoff,
The Atlantic,
21 Jan. 2026
Adjective
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They’re further complicated by the fact that the United States’ infrastructure has glaring weak points, making the simplest solution of hauling more weight ill-advised at best.—
Caleb Jacobs,
The Drive,
4 Feb. 2026
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The Connor McDavid line (with Nugent-Hopkins and Zach Hyman) has been hot for months, so the idea of checking down to a different look was ill-advised.—
Allan Mitchell,
New York Times,
4 Feb. 2026
Adjective
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Meanwhile, both Ukrainian and Russian military bloggers reported that unauthorized Starlink satellite communications terminals in use by Russian forces had been disrupted or disconnected, following a public appeal by Kyiv to Starlink producer SpaceX and its owner Elon Musk.—
David Brennan,
ABC News,
5 Feb. 2026
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Earn 1% cash back on all other purchases With Zero Liability you won't be held responsible for unauthorized charges made with your card or account information.—
Ryley Amond,
CNBC,
4 Feb. 2026
Adjective
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Of course, some of the best opportunities to experience the world's game will be unofficial and unplanned—from spontaneous pickup games to late-night football anthem sing-alongs.—
Hannah Towey,
Condé Nast Traveler,
10 Feb. 2026
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Scientists now think chronic spontaneous urticaria (CSU) is an autoimmune disease, at least for most people.—
Ruth Jessen Hickman,
Health,
10 Feb. 2026
Adjective
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There is, however, something hopeful about the current generation’s instinctive grasp of the significance of 2016.—
Jeff Ihaza,
Rolling Stone,
8 Feb. 2026
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Yet their emergent/instinctive choices about when to engage AI and how much authority to give it produced fundamentally different collaboration dynamics.—
François Candelon,
Fortune,
30 Jan. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Half-cocked.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/half-cocked. Accessed 15 Feb. 2026.
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