fragmentary

American  

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

adjective

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

   fragmentary evidence; fragmentary remains.

---

fragmentary British  

/ ˈfræɡməntərɪ, -trɪ /

adjective

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

---

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

Derived Forms

• fragmentarily
  adverb
• fragmentariness
  noun

Etymology

Origin of fragmentary

First recorded in 1605–15; fragment + -ary

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

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 vogue when I was writing ‘Dept. of Speculation’ was for realist doorstopper books that were self-consciously about big ideas,” explains the novelist, who published her now-classic fragmentary novel in 2014.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 28, 2026

Morrison seems to have taken particular inspiration from the omissions and evasions of Faulkner’s fragmentary storytelling.

From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 10, 2026

"The future of dinosaur research will depend on paying attention to the humble, the fragmentary, the small."

From Science Daily • Feb. 3, 2026

At first I could not make much sense of what I heard; for the discourse of Louisa Eshton and Mary Ingram, who sat nearer to me, confused the fragmentary sentences that reached me at intervals.

From "Jane Eyre" by Charlotte Brontë

Related Words

• scattered
• sketchy