semi-charmed

See also: semicharmed

English

WOTD – 6 July 2020

Etymology

From semi- (prefix meaning ‘half; rather, somewhat’) +‎ charmed.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˌsɛmiˈt͡ʃɑːmd/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˌsɛmiˈt͡ʃɑɹmd/

• Audio (General American):

  (file)

Adjective

semi-charmed (not comparable)

1. Lucky and pleasant but with some problems.
   • 1979, Saul S. Friedman, Amcha: An Oral Testament of the Holocaust, Washington, D.C.: University Press of America, →ISBN, page 195:

     For the next two years, Jewish artisans and textile workers in the Bialystok ghetto lived a semi-charmed existence, protected by the Wehrmacht against SS demands they be annihilated.

   • 1997 May 10, Stephan Jenkins (lyrics and music), “Semi-Charmed Life”, in Third Eye Blind, performed by Third Eye Blind, Beverly Hills, Calif.: Elektra Entertainment Group, →OCLC:

     I want something else / To get me through this / Semi-charmed kind of life / I want something else / I'm not listening when you say / Good-bye

   • 2006, Edward Fiske, Bruce Hammond, Fiske Real College Essays That Work, Naperville, Ill.: Sourcebooks, →ISBN, page 136:

     My life has followed the clichéd and semi-charmed life of a teenager growing up in a very nice American neighborhood.

   • 2007, Rich Wagner, “A Semi-charmed Life”, in The Myth of Happiness: Discovering a Joy You Never Thought Possible, Grand Rapids, Mich.: Zondervan, →ISBN, part 1 (Thirsty for More), page 20:

     My search for joy began about a decade ago. At the time, I was living a semi-charmed life; the thirst, seek, and settle train that I was on nearly ruined me. I was in my late twenties and experiencing a "quarter life crisis."

   • 2007, TV Guide, volume 55, Radnor, Pa.: Triangle Publications, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 4, column 3:

     The Fashionista Diaries (SoapNet, 9/8c) Love is in the air for the underlings who are learning that all work and no play has no place in their semicharmed lives.

   • 2014, Eve Tushnet, “O Tell Me the Truth about Love”, in Christine Firer Hinze, J. Patrick Hornbeck II, editors, More Than a Monologue: Sexual Diversity and the Catholic Church (Catholic Practice in North America), volume 1 (Voices of Our Times), New York, N.Y.: Fordham University Press, →DOI, →ISBN, page 26:

     I suspect one reason it was relatively easy for me to become Catholic is that I had led, up to that point, a semicharmed life. I was a very weird kid who went to schools where bullying wasn't tolerated.

   • 2018 November 27, April Wolfe, “Anna And The Apocalypse is a Holiday-horror Cocktail of Singing, Maiming, and Clichés”, in The A.V. Club‎^[1], archived from the original on 4 November 2019:

     Anna (Ella Hunt) leads a semi-charmed high school life—she's beautiful and smart and loved, but still a Pretty In Pink-style heroine with a widowed janitor father who doesn't get her big hopes and dreams.

Usage notes

Typically used as part of the phrase a semi-charmed life: see charmed life.

Alternative forms

• semicharmed

Translations

lucky and pleasant but with some problems