English

Alternative forms

• half baked
• halfbaked

Adjective

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

1. Used other than as an idiom: Partially cooked by heating in an oven.

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

2. (idiomatic, 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.

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

   • 1960, P[elham] G[renville] Wodehouse, “chapter XVII”, in Jeeves in the Offing, London: Herbert Jenkins, OCLC 1227855:

     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.

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