half-baked

See also: halfbaked and half baked

English

Alternative forms

• half baked, halfbaked

Etymology

half- +‎ baked

Pronunciation

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

Adjective

half-baked (comparative more half-baked, superlative most half-baked)

1. (figurative, informal, frequently derisive) Incomplete; (of an idea or scheme) not fully planned or carefully considered, ill-conceived, unsound or badly thought-out; (of a person) foolish or having no common sense.

   Synonyms: (vulgar) half-assed, half-cocked

   The guy had some half-baked idea for getting rich in the stock market.

   • 1959, Anthony Burgess, Beds in the East (The Malayan Trilogy), published 1972, page 592:

     "You're cheap. Cheap education, cheap ideas, a half-baked bloody nobody."

   • 1960, P[elham] G[renville] Wodehouse, chapter XVII, in Jeeves in the Offing, London: Herbert Jenkins, →OCLC:

     She came skipping to me just now, clapping her little hands and bleating about how very, very happy she was, dear Mrs Travers. The silly young geezer. I nearly conked her one with my trowel. I'd always thought her half-baked, but now I think they didn't even put her in the oven.

   • 1996, Todd G. Buchholz, From Here to Economy‎^[1], Penguin Publishing Group, →ISBN:

     Though Jevons's theory was more than half-baked, it needed more time in the oven, since he forgot to calculate that poor harvests in Asia would hit England only after a time lag.

   • 2013 April 16, Paula Cocozza, “Resignation by cake: the sweetest way to say goodbye”, in The Guardian‎^[2], →ISSN:

     A Cambridgeshire man recently gave notice with a message piped on top of a passion cake. A half-baked idea, or a generous parting gift for the office?

2. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: Partially cooked by heating in an oven.

   When the casserole is half-baked, take it out and sprinkle the grated cheese on top.

Translations

incomplete

• Dutch: halfbakken (nl), halfgaar (nl)
• French: foireux (fr), fumeux (fr)
• German: unausgegoren (de)
• Russian: несостоя́тельный (ru) m (nesostojátelʹnyj), доморо́щенный (ru) m (domoróščennyj)
• Spanish: faltarle un hervor

partially cooked

• Dutch: halfbakken (nl), halfgaar (nl)
• Finnish: puolikypsä
• Greek: μισοψημένος (el) m (misopsiménos)
• Ingrian: toorekas

See also

• half-measure
• need more time in the oven