fragment
- a part broken off or detached: scattered fragments of the broken vase.
- an isolated, unfinished, or incomplete part: She played a fragment of her latest composition.
- an odd piece, bit, or scrap.
- to collapse or break into fragments; disintegrate: The chair fragmented under his weight.
- to break (something) into pieces or fragments; cause to disintegrate: Outside influences soon fragmented the Mayan culture.
- to divide into fragments; disunify.
- Computers. to split a file into smaller parts and store in non-contiguous sectors on a disk, resulting in fragmentation of both the file and available free space on the disk.Compare fragmentation(def 4).
Origin of fragment
Synonyms for fragment
See more synonyms for on Thesaurus.comRelated Words for fragment
particle, chunk, portion, lump, remnant, shred, hunk, bit, piece, scrap, sliver, disintegrate, splinter, shiver, cut, end, ace, minim, morsel, biteExamples from the Web for fragment
Contemporary Examples of fragment
The fragment is written in Coptic, not Greek, and is not actually from the Bible, as the title would indicate.
It really is startling that not one fragment of an airplane that weighed 250 tons has yet turned up.
A fragment penetrated her shoulder, missing a major artery by an inch.
Day 50 of the search for Flight MH370 has come and gone without one fragment of the Boeing 777 being found.
In a subsequent line the fragment refers to a “Mary” and says that she “is worthy.”
Historical Examples of fragment
Epos, p. 65, places the fragment in the Finn episode, between ll.
BeowulfUnknown
The stone-breaker, who had not broken a fragment since we began to converse, then did as follows.
The Uncommercial TravellerCharles Dickens
It was as if men had been able to preserve a fragment of a sunset.
Alarms and DiscursionsG. K. Chesterton
I beg your pardon, my dear "Clarinda," for the fragment scrawl I sent you yesterday.
The Letters of Robert BurnsRobert Burns
"I'm sorry you think——" he began, but did not complete the fragment.
Alice AdamsBooth Tarkington
fragment
- a piece broken off or detachedfragments of rock
- an incomplete piece; portionfragments of a novel
- a scrap; morsel; bit
- to break or cause to break into fragments
Word Origin for fragment
Word Origin and History for fragment
early 15c., from Latin fragmentum "a fragment, remnant," literally "a piece broken off," from root of frangere "to break" (see fraction).
by 1788 (implied in fragmented), from fragment (n.). Related: Fragmenting.
fragment
(frăg′mənt)- A small part broken off or detached.
- An incomplete or isolated portion; a bit.
- To break or separate into fragments.