half-jokingly
advEtymology From half- + jokingly.
1
With an element of jest, but fundamentally in earnest.
- I wrote a piece, half-jokingly, for The Independent suggesting that it was all part of a cunning plan by ministers to deter people from using the railways. […] I now suspect this was rather closer to the truth than I had thought.2023 July 26, Christian Wolmar, “Closing ticket offices to lead to 'catch-22' for passengers”, in RAIL, number 988, page 42: