partial
Americanadjective
-
being such in part only; not total or general; incomplete: a partial payment of a debt.
partial blindness;
a partial payment of a debt.
- Synonyms:
- limited, imperfect, unfinished
- Antonyms:
- complete
-
biased or prejudiced in favor of a person, group, side, etc., over another, as in a controversy.
a partial witness.
-
pertaining to or affecting a part.
- Antonyms:
- complete
-
being a part; component; constituent.
-
Botany. secondary or subordinate.
a partial umbel.
noun
-
Bridge. part-score.
-
Acoustics, Music. partial tone.
idioms
adjective
-
relating to only a part; not general or complete
a partial eclipse
-
biased
a partial judge
-
having a particular liking (for)
-
botany
-
constituting part of a larger structure
a partial umbel
-
used for only part of the life cycle of a plant
a partial habitat
-
(of a parasite) not exclusively parasitic
-
-
maths designating or relating to an operation in which only one of a set of independent variables is considered at a time
noun
-
Also called: partial tone. music acoustics any of the component tones of a single musical sound, including both those that belong to the harmonic series of the sound and those that do not
-
maths a partial derivative
Other Word Forms
- nonpartial adjective
- overpartial adjective
- overpartialness noun
- partially adverb
- partialness noun
Etymology
Origin of partial
First recorded in 1375–1425; late Middle English parcial “biased, particular,” from Middle French, from Late Latin partiālis “pertaining to a part,” equivalent to Latin parti- (stem of pars ) “piece, portion” + -ālis adjective suffix; part, -al 1
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.
Iran, Iraq, Israel, Syria, Kuwait, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates had all announced at least partial closures of their skies.
From Barron's
Following an intense assessment period, he was diagnosed as being "minimally conscious negative" – where patients show signs of partial conscious awareness inconsistently.
From BBC
But the multimillion-dollar project failed within months of its partial launch.
From Los Angeles Times
He smoked a pipe and was partial to poetry and gardening.
From Los Angeles Times
Even partial disruptions or rerouting of tankers can push prices higher.
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.
