half-mast.

1. A lowered flag position used to show mourning, respect for the dead, or sometimes distress.

2. An incomplete, lowered, or partly closed position, described humorously in comparison with a lowered flag.

Use it for

Words that belong together

• fly at half-mast
• lower a flag to half-mast
• flags at half-mast

On the page

The flag remained at half-mast long after the square had emptied.

She understood who had died when she saw the harbor flags at half-mast.

His eyelids hung at half-mast throughout the speech.

His trousers were at half-mast, exposing a strip of sock above each shoe.

Usage notes

Usually uncountable: at half-mast; to half-mast. Also adjectival or adverbial. The usual US equivalent half-staff is an alternative headword for the same flag practice, not an extra entry here. Exact ceremonial position follows the relevant flag protocol, not necessarily a mathematically exact midpoint. Register: neutral. Commonness: moderately common for flags; figurative extensions are conversational (dictionary-informed qualitative editorial estimate; not a measured frequency).