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

With this system, Weavabel addresses the European Union‘s fast-changing regulatory environment and provides a solution to the fragmented collection systems and limited infrastructure that can make recycling challenging. — Roy Stephen Canivel, Footwear News, 2 Oct. 2026

But the episode exposed a fragmented right and a divided Liberal Party, Bolsonaro’s political base. — Alessandra Freitas, CNN Money, 2 Oct. 2026

In Finance​ Give agentic AI fragmented data, inconsistent processes or unclear ownership, and those weaknesses become part of how the technology operates. — Ari Widlansky, Forbes.com, 1 Oct. 2026

There’s a fragmented culture where all corners of the entertainment world are struggling to produce new versions of the sort of ubiquitous, four-quadrant successes that consumers recall as regular occurrences in earlier decades. — Andrew Unterberger, Billboard, 29 Sep. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

Adjective

circa 1817, in the meaning defined at sense 1