fragment

1 of 2

noun

frag·​ment ˈfrag-mənt How to pronounce fragment (audio)
: a part broken off, detached, or incomplete
The dish lay in fragments on the floor.

fragment

2 of 2

verb

frag·​ment ˈfrag-ˌment How to pronounce fragment (audio)
fragmented; fragmenting; fragments

intransitive verb

: to fall to pieces

transitive verb

: to break up or apart into fragments
Choose the Right Synonym for fragment

part, portion, piece, member, division, section, segment, fragment mean something less than the whole.

part is a general term appropriate when indefiniteness is required.

they ran only part of the way

portion implies an assigned or allotted part.

cut the pie into six portions

piece applies to a separate or detached part of a whole.

a puzzle with 500 pieces

member suggests one of the functional units composing a body.

a structural member

division applies to a large or diversified part.

the manufacturing division of the company

section applies to a relatively small or uniform part.

the entertainment section of the newspaper

segment applies to a part separated or marked out by or as if by natural lines of cleavage.

the retired segment of the population

fragment applies to a part produced by or as if by breaking off.

only a fragment of the play still exists

Examples of fragment in a Sentence

Noun The dish lay in fragments on the floor. I could only hear fragments of their conversation. Verb The party is fragmenting into warring factions. These issues are fragmenting our society. property being fragmented into subdivisions
Recent Examples on the Web
Noun
Meanwhile, Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitschko said on Telegram that a series of blasts had occurred in the Ukrainian capital, with missile fragments falling in the Desnianskyi district. Heather Chen, CNN, 24 Mar. 2024 Among the pieces found were fragments of a flat board, which had a series of holes carved into it, as well as 25 ceramic tokens, researchers said. Brendan Rascius, Miami Herald, 6 Mar. 2024 When García Márquez died in 2014, multiple drafts, notes and chapter fragments of the novel were stashed away in his archives at the Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas at Austin. Alexandra Alter, New York Times, 6 Mar. 2024 This lunar art museum spans millennia, reaching all the way back to a Sumerian cuneiform fragment of musical notation up to modern-day beats by Timbaland. Joe Lynch, Billboard, 26 Feb. 2024 Takata air bag explosions in the U.S. have killed 26 people and injured hundreds with sharp metal fragments to the face, neck and chest since the late 1990s. Detroit Free Press, 26 Feb. 2024 Apparent fragments have since washed up on the eastern coast of Africa and islands in the Indian Ocean, where the aircraft and those on board are believed to have met their fate. Chris Lau, CNN, 7 Mar. 2024 The shell fragments came from four Mesolithic hunter-gatherer sites and 11 sites ranging from the Neolithic up to the Iron Age. Laura Baisas, Popular Science, 29 Feb. 2024 Some burials still contained fragments of fabric or other textiles, officials said. Aspen Pflughoeft, Miami Herald, 28 Feb. 2024
Verb
Maryland’s biotech landscape is fragmented with significant activities in Montgomery and Frederick counties and, of course, Baltimore. Reader Commentary, Baltimore Sun, 9 Feb. 2024 What’s the reasoning behind buying these entities at a time when so much media is fragmenting? Lachlan Cartwright, The Hollywood Reporter, 21 Feb. 2024 Formed by a lava flow that eventually cooled, hardened, and fragmented from waves repeatedly cascading over it, this black sand offers a striking color contrast from the lush green tropical forest that meets the shoreline. Nicole Kliest, Vogue, 20 Feb. 2024 The streaming services have fragmented content ownership to a dizzying degree, so some degree of consolidation seems inevitable. Phillip Molnar, San Diego Union-Tribune, 16 Feb. 2024 The Warsaw Pact disbanded (its members largely joining NATO) and the USSR fragmented. John R. Bolton, National Review, 25 Jan. 2024 The result of these generations-old alliances is a U.S. system fragmented into about a dozen regions with limited connectivity between them. IEEE Spectrum, 22 Feb. 2024 As the Syrian regime and its opponents were joined on the battlefield by jihadist groups and Kurdish nationalists, the opposition itself fragmented, and foreign patrons grew more influential. Lisa Anderson, Foreign Affairs, 20 Feb. 2024 That being fragmented kept me from considering the near-constant weight of my mortality??? Hazlitt, 7 Feb. 2024

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'fragment.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Etymology

Noun

Middle English, borrowed from Latin fragmentum, from frag-, variant stem of frangere "to break, shatter" + -mentum -ment — more at break entry 1

Verb

derivative of fragment entry 1

First Known Use

Noun

15th century, in the meaning defined above

Verb

1818, in the meaning defined at intransitive sense

Time Traveler
The first known use of fragment was in the 15th century

Dictionary Entries Near fragment

Cite this Entry

“Fragment.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/fragment. Accessed 28 Mar. 2024.

Kids Definition

fragment

noun
frag·​ment
ˈfrag-mənt
1
: a part that is broken off or incomplete
2
fragment
-ˌment
verb

Medical Definition

fragment

noun
frag·​ment ˈfrag-mənt How to pronounce fragment (audio)
: a part broken off or detached

More from Merriam-Webster on fragment

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