half-finished

half-finished — adjective

1. used to describe something that is only partly done, made, or used, so that the

1.形容詞B1
釋義

used to describe something that is only partly done, made, or used, so that the remaining part is still incomplete or has not been touched or dealt with.

例句

The half-finished bridge stood silent over the river for almost a year.

attributive use before noun

A half-finished painting on the easel caught the visitor's attention.

half-finished + noun describing creative work

同義詞
  • incomplete

    more formal and general; lacks the specific 'halfway' implication

  • unfinished

    very close in meaning; 'unfinished' can mean not finished at any stage, while 'half-finished' specifies roughly 50 % complete

  • half-done

    informal synonym; less common in writing than 'half-finished'

反義詞

文法句型

half-finished + noun

be + half-finished

用法筆記

The hyphen is typically retained when the compound appears before a noun (a half-finished manuscript). In predicative position after a linking verb, it is common but not strictly required (the manuscript was half finished). The word often implies that the unfinished state is unsatisfactory or accidental.

常見錯誤

❌I ate a half-finished pizza.' (sounds as if the pizza was incompletely made)
✅I ate half of the pizza.
💡'half-finished' describes an object that was never completed, not an object that was partially consumed by the speaker.
❌The project is half-finished, so we have still a lot to do.
✅The project is half-finished, so we still have a lot to do.
💡In Chinese-influenced English, 'still' is often misplaced before the main verb.
❌This is a half-finished job because we ran out of time.
✅This is a half finished job because we ran out of time.
💡The hyphen is often dropped in informal writing; in formal writing, use the hyphen before a noun.