Dictionary

quarter-heartedly en · ADV

Etymology

From quarter + heartedly, by analogy with halfheartedly.

Meanings

1. (idiomatic) In a quarter-hearted manner.
   • I tried to play the game—whole-heartedly at first, then half-heartedly, then quarter-heartedly. 1964, Helen Gurley Brown, Sex and the Office, page 87:
   • Alfonso despises Annetta, Annetta despises Alfonso, and they continue to court each other quarter-heartedly. 1966, D. J. Enright, Conspirators and Poets, page 168:
   • My ex, Nick, an introvert, danced with me once in five years: quarter-heartedly, for thirty-eight seconds, at his best friend's wedding, and only after I'd threatened to embarrass him by dancing on my own if he didn't. 2011, Stella Newman, Pear-Shaped, page 9:

Forms