fragmentary

American  

[frag-muhn-ter-ee] / ˈfræg mənˌtɛr i /

adjective

1. consisting of or reduced to fragments; broken; disconnected; incomplete.

   fragmentary evidence; fragmentary remains.

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fragmentary British  

/ ˈfræɡməntərɪ, -trɪ /

adjective

1. Also: fragmental. made up of fragments; disconnected; incomplete

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Usage

What does fragmentary mean? The adjective fragmentary means consisting of or reduced to fragments—pieces that have been broken off of or detached from something else. The fossilized remains of a dinosaur might be described as fragmentary if they exist in many different pieces, and perhaps some of the pieces are missing. The word fragment is also used to refer to a part or portion of something that is incomplete or isolated from the whole, such as a fragment of a movie or piece of music. Sometimes, fragmentary is used to describe things as disjointed, disconnected, or incomplete. This sense of the word is most commonly used to describe intangible or abstract things, as in fragmentary evidence or a fragmentary proposal.  The adjective fragmental can be used to mean the same thing as fragmentary. The adjective fragmented describes things that have been broken into fragments or things that are or have been disorganized or disunified in some way, such as an empire that was once unified but is now fragmented. Example: Scholars have been able to piece together the text from the fragmentary remains of the ancient parchment.

Other Word Forms

• fragmentariness
  noun
• fragmentarily
  adverb

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Etymology

Origin of fragmentary

First recorded in 1605–15; fragment + -ary

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Explanation

Anything fragmentary is made up of tiny parts or pieces, and it's usually missing some of them. Archaeologists are always discovering fragmentary remnants of ancient societies which they have to try and piece back together. Something fragmentary is in fragments, or broken bits. The Latin root is fragmentum, "a remnant," or literally, "a piece broken off." Fragmentary things have been broken or have decomposed, and there's no guarantee that all the pieces can still be found. What will your sister say when she sees the fragmentary remains of that bowl she made in art class?

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

fragmentary

It also helped Korkejian understand that she wasn’t attempting to interrogate or re-create memories — her recollections were too fragmentary for that — but to capture and preserve the feeling within them.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 29, 2026

But in reproducing the fragmentary nature of Susanna Kaysen’s memoir, which became a movie starring Winona Ryder and Angelina Jolie, the musical never acquires dramatic momentum.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 5, 2026

"The first remains of Kank were discovered in 2018, but were too fragmentary to be identified as a new species," he adds.

From Science Daily ● May 29, 2026

By the century’s end it was fragmentary and partially overgrown, its once-pulsing culture withered to a memory that only the growth of the federal highway system in the 20th century would revive.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 24, 2026

Red Corn did not know more than these fragmentary details relayed to her by relatives, and she hoped that I could investigate her grandfather’s death.

From "Killers of the Flower Moon" by David Grann

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Related Words

• scattered
• sketchy

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