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Glite Dictionary
second half

second half

160 1.6
The later part of a game after halftime
  • noun
translation icon : segunda mitad
  • After halftime, the teams returned to play the second half of the match.

I played up top on my own at Old Trafford second-half, got the bubbly, got the MOM.

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Examples

  • Doctors tell me running back Rolando Jones has suffered a torn ACL... ...and will not be returning for the second half.

    Playing for Keeps (2012)

  • The Bulldogs are trailing in the second half as they receive the Devils'punt.

    The Rage: Carrie 2 (1999)

  • I hope the second half is better than the first.

    Red Lights (2012)

  • It's a tie score at the bottom of the second half.

    She's the Man (2006)

  • We're ready to play the second half.

    F.A.R.T.: The Movie (1991)

  • Eddie scores two touchdowns in the second half, bringing the Titans close.

    Fiction book (2002)

  • Company CEO Christopher Galvin says that the earliest signs of a turnaround will come with a gradual increase in sales and profitability in the second half of the year.

    Brave the Dark (2025)

  • The Indian government undertook large-scale national rinderpest elimination campaigns throughout the second half of the twentieth century.

    Academic text (2013)

  • The score was even as they entered the second half of the game.

  • In the second half, the home team played with much more energy and won decisively.

Synonyms

second period
vssecond half
11 2.7

The part of a sports game that comes after the first part

is the later section specifically after the midgame break when play uses two parts
last half
vssecond half
4 1.4

The later part of a game or match after the break

is the later part that follows the central break in play

Surface Forms

second half singular
second halves plural

Morphology

2nd + half

The meaning 'the latter of two equal parts of a game' is directly and compositionally derived from 'second' (follows the first) + 'half' (one of two timed periods). This literal ordinal + period construction is cross-linguistically common and follows regular English patterns, so a B1 learner who knows the constituents will readily infer the meaning.

Etymology

The phrase second half comes from sports where a game is split into two equal parts, the first half and the second half, with a break called halftime. After that break the play continues in the 'second half', so the phrase now means 'the later part of the match'.