fragmented

1 of 2

adjective

frag·​ment·​ed ˈfrag-ˌmen-təd 

1

: broken or separated into distinct parts

Another fragmented language group is the Austroasiatic family, whose most widely spoken languages are Vietnamese and Cambodian.

—Jared Diamond

The reality seems to be that the global audience for movies has become increasingly diverse and fragmented, which runs against Hollywood's obsession with finding that magic common denominator.

—Peter Bart

2

computing : having related or associated pieces of stored data disorganized in a way that makes them more difficult to access

Fragmented files require much more work to read than contiguous files, because to do so DOS must chase down each sector, possibly moving the disk head back and forth many times. Each of these … slows the task at hand and results in additional wear and tear on your hard disk.

—Brett Glass

You probably won't notice a marked performance boost unless your hard drive is extremely fragmented.

—Doug Stanley

A computer's hard drive becomes more and more fragmented every time a file is saved, a file is deleted or a program is installed.

—Shea Conner

fragmented

2 of 2

past tense and past participle of fragment entry 2

Synonyms of fragmented

Adjective

• fractured
• broken
• shattered
• smashed

Examples of fragmented in a Sentence

Adjective

restoring the fragmented Roman sculpture was like putting together a jigsaw puzzle

Recent Examples on the Web

Adjective

Meager government investment, weak accountability, fragmented donor support, and high cost of treatment continued to put access to essential services beyond the reach of most Congolese. — Anthony W. Gambino, Time, 13 Nov. 2026

Trump, Xi, and Putin are paving the way for their successors to advance great-power cooperation across ideological lines and stabilize a fragmented world. — Charles Kupchan, Foreign Affairs, 13 Nov. 2026

Having said that, the marketplace is extremely competitive and extremely fragmented. — Alex Sherman, CNBC, 13 Nov. 2026

Related Articles Born in Brooklyn, Simpson rose to international renown in the 1990s with multilayered photographs that pair images with fragmented text. — Tessa Solomon, ARTnews.com, 12 Nov. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

Adjective

circa 1817, in the meaning defined at sense 1