half joke

noun, verb — 2 senses

noun

Idiomatic A statement which contains elements of both jest and seriousness.

"Well, let's wait. Perhaps the shooting will die out." "Maybe the soldiers and settlers will die out with it," I say, another half-joke.2003, Suad Amiry, Earthquake in April, page 198:

verb

Idiomatic To make a half joke.

"You know why I think you're working with Cristos? Because once I was captured, once he got what he wanted, it would be far easier to pin it all on me, to kill my wife, dump her body where it would never be found, convince me and the world that I was crazy, no trial, just lock me up in a padded room until I succumbed to the cancer." "That sounds like a pretty good plan," Frank said, half joking.2011, Richard Doetsch, Half-Past Dawn, page 278:

Entry derived from the Wiktionary, under licence CC BY-SA 4.0 — list of authors.