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halfway

adverb · adjective · noun

Simple meaning

At half the distance.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

hafway

Say the bold part a little louder.

US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈhæfˈweɪ

This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.

IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

adverb

  1. At half the distance; at the middle

    “He was halfway down the ladder when he fell.”

  2. Half of the way between two points.

  3. Moderately; somewhat.

adjective

  1. Middle; midway; being in the middle of the way or distance.

noun

  1. Two former unincorporated communities in Williamson County, Illinois, United States.

  2. An unincorporated hamlet in Fauquier County, Virginia, United States.

  3. A community in Restigouche County, New Brunswick, Canada.

  4. A community in Renfrew County, Ontario, Canada.

  5. An area (Halfwayhouse) in Glasgow, Scotland (given grid ref NS5463, not shown on maps)

  6. An outer suburb of Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England (OS grid ref SK4381).

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
B2 · Upper Intermediate (estimated)
Frequency
Moderately Common
Typical Use
Neutral / general English

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: At half the distance; at the middle

Used this way, halfway is a common word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.

Heard in a sentence
“He was halfway down the ladder when he fell.”
Emotional tone
Neutral
Formality
Neutral
Intensity
Not strongly marked
How common
Common
Connotation
No strong connotation
Usage feel
Neutral and straightforward

Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.

More ways to use halfway

  • “He was halfway down the ladder when he fell.”adverb

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

halfway markapproximately halfway

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More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin

Synonyms

Sense: middle

midway

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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.