never do things by halves
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
Do things completely or not at all
Literally: perform tasks partially
Examples
She never does things by halves, so her projects are always thorough
AI-drafted example auto-approved by rule (illustrative, not a corpus attestation)
Sources & notes
Listed on English Wikiquote “English proverbs” (CC BY-SA 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-31). Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-07-31; pending editor spot-check.
Common questions
What does “never do things by halves” mean?
Do things completely or not at all Literally: perform tasks partially
Is “never do things by halves” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.