half-cocked
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
To Rafael’s bildungsroman amid half-cocked terrorists and a love triangle with their leaders, add a spy-novel parody, a kaleidoscopic Christ narrative, a battery of literary references and a portrait of Cuban life under socialism.
From New York Times ● Sep. 2, 2022
If the hammer was quarter or half-cocked, the gun “could not be made to fire without a pull of the trigger,” per the report cited by ABC News.
From Washington Times ● Aug. 13, 2022
Others were also unenthusiastic, with Henry Hitchings giving it two stars in The Evening Standard, and The Hollywood Reporter describing it as "half-cocked".
From BBC ● Jun. 6, 2018
Mrs. Ambrose, it continued, “helped put an end to the image of the D.C. Council as a refuge for small-bore politicians given to going off half-cocked on marginal issues.”
From Washington Post ● Apr. 4, 2017
Quackenbush took advantage of a break in this line of conversation to announce that he would certainly stay at Devon through the year, however half-cocked others might rush off.
From "A Separate Peace" by John Knowles
