halfmatch

Halfmatch is a term used to describe a partial match between two items, where some attributes align while others do not. The phrase does not have a single universally accepted definition and its meaning varies across fields. In practice, it often denotes any match that falls short of a full, exact match but still meets some degree of similarity.

In data processing and record linkage, a half-match typically means that a subset of key fields agrees between records. For example, two customer records might share the same name and birth year but differ in address or an identifier. Systems may assign a fractional similarity score to reflect partial agreement or apply thresholds to decide whether to treat the pair as a match, a non-match, or as a candidate for further review.

In information retrieval and pattern recognition, half-match can refer to a similarity condition where a match is achieved on half of the considered features or tokens. This approach is common in fuzzy matching and approximate string matching, where exact matches are unlikely and partial matches help locate relevant results.

Because its usage is context-dependent, the term can appear in different implementations. Some uses treat a half-match as a preliminary screening step before a full match check, while others categorize it as a formal partial-match class in scoring or ranking. Related concepts include partial matches, fuzzy matching, and similarity scoring.