Behalf

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Grammarist

The word behalf has an interesting origin. We will examine the definition of the word behalf, where it came from and some examples of its use in sentences.

Behalf means representing the interest of someone, in support of someone or as the representative of someone. The word behalf is most often preceded by the word on or in. Today, the word half means fifty percent of something, however one of its original meanings was side, either the left side or the right side. If you were on the half of a person, you were on his side. The word behalf meant by someone’s side. This definition of half has gone out of fashion, but it survives in the word behalf. The plural form may be rendered as behalves or behalfs.

Examples

The United States on Friday charged nine Iranians and an Iranian company with attempting to hack into hundreds of US and international universities, dozens of companies and parts of the US government on behalf of the Tehran government. (The Jerusalem Post)

Supporting these efforts are the K99 Good Morning Guys, Todd Harding and Brian Gary, who tirelessly work on behalf of four nonprofits that treat children and families who are victims of childhood trauma. (The Longmont Times-Call)

On several occasions Largess dismissed Wallentine as a “$7,000 expert witness” who had rarely testified in behalf of a civilian complaint against police and who did not seem to know best police practices in dealing with a mentally ill person in crisis. (The Charlotte Observer)

Echoing the concerns of small businesses, BFI wants to know if government can intervene in behalf of traders who had taken out loans earlier, since closing down businesses would mean loss of income. (The Manila Bulletin)