fragment
Americannoun
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a part broken off or detached.
scattered fragments of the broken vase.
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an isolated, unfinished, or incomplete part.
She played a fragment of her latest composition.
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an odd piece, bit, or scrap.
verb (used without object)
verb (used with object)
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to break (something) into pieces or fragments; cause to disintegrate.
Outside influences soon fragmented the Mayan culture.
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to divide into fragments; disunify.
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Computers. to store (data from a file) in noncontiguous sectors on a disk drive, splitting the file into smaller pieces and breaking up available free space on the disk.
noun
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a piece broken off or detached
fragments of rock
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an incomplete piece; portion
fragments of a novel
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a scrap; morsel; bit
verb
Usage
What does fragment mean? A fragment is a piece that has been broken off of or detached from something else.Fragment most commonly refers to a part that has broken off rather than one that has been separated gently or intentionally, as in The vase smashed into a million fragments. A bone fragment is a (usually small) piece that has been chipped off from a bone.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, fragment just means a piece, bit, or scrap (regardless of whether it has been removed from a larger part).As a verb, fragment can mean to break into pieces or disintegrate, as in The empire fragmented into multiple states after the emperor’s death. It can also mean to cause to break into pieces or disintegrate. Less commonly, it can mean to divide into fragments.Fragment is also used as a verb in a much more specific way in the context of computers, in which it means to store data files in a way that breaks them up. The opposite of this sense of fragment is defragment—to bringing the parts of the files back together.The word fragment is used in the formation of many related words, including adjectives, nouns, and verbs.The adjective fragmented describes things that have been broken into fragments or things that are or have been disorganized or disunified in some way. The adjective fragmentary means consisting of or reduced to fragments—disconnected or incomplete, as in fragmentary evidence.Fragmentation is the process of breaking into fragments. The verb fragmentize can mean to break something into fragments or separate it into parts, as in They’re going to fragmentize the corporation into several companies. It can also mean for something to break into fragments (without someone doing the fragmentizing).Example: The pirate captain tore the map into fragments, placing the pieces into separate bottles and scattering them across the seven seas.
Related Words
See part.
Etymology
Origin of fragment
First recorded in 1375–1425; late Middle English, from Latin fragmentum “a broken piece, remnant,” equivalent to frag- (stem of frangere “to break, shatter” ) + -mentum noun suffix; break, -ment
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Should elements of the security forces fragment or refuse orders, any formal constitutional transition process may quickly become irrelevant, overtaken by developments on the ground.
From BBC
The fragments vary widely in size, from less than 1 gram to 85.4 grams, and can measure up to 5 centimeters along their longest dimension.
From Science Daily
A vast and fragmented pile of immigration statistics from dozens of countries, stitched together by The Wall Street Journal, depicts a historic pattern.
They unearthed a skull, fragments of the hind legs and several crests.
From Barron's
Most people living today have some residual fragments of DNA from our ancient evolutionary cousins.
From Barron's
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
