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

For years, New York City teachers navigated a broken and fragmented instructional system. — Evan Stone, New York Daily News, 20 Aug. 2026

What does America look like today at one of its most culturally fragmented moments? — Luis Alberto Rodriguez, Vanity Fair, 20 Aug. 2026

The company said its research showed that the network’s fans felt the news media ecosystem was too fragmented, and wanted to get news in one place. — Max Tani, semafor.com, 19 Aug. 2026

In these ways, JobAssist is a tool that aims to serve as a viable solution to the increasingly fragmented and repetitive nature of modern job searching. — William Jones, USA Today, 19 Aug. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

Adjective

circa 1817, in the meaning defined at sense 1