as in incomplete
lacking some necessary part
the historical record of this pharaoh's life and reign is fragmentary at best
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Recent Examples of fragmentary
Her remaining works in fragmentary progress will provide enough material for at least two posthumous albums and possibly a hologram concert by spring.
—
Sophie Brookover, Vulture, 21 Nov. 2025
With words infallibly falling short, Pritam mingled realism with a fragmentary style of narration that meshes together social encounters, violent episodes, vivid metaphors, disturbing dreams, memories, intimate self-reflections, and introspection on society.
—JSTOR Daily, 30 Oct. 2025
Rather, they have been written to capture, somehow, a complicated, fragmentary and/or vanishing story of great importance to the author.
—Literary Hub, 21 Oct. 2025
White’s fragmentary response forms the core of the story that was used to convict him.
—Eren Orbey, New Yorker, 13 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for fragmentary
Sophie Brookover, Vulture, 21 Nov. 2025
With words infallibly falling short, Pritam mingled realism with a fragmentary style of narration that meshes together social encounters, violent episodes, vivid metaphors, disturbing dreams, memories, intimate self-reflections, and introspection on society.
—JSTOR Daily, 30 Oct. 2025
Rather, they have been written to capture, somehow, a complicated, fragmentary and/or vanishing story of great importance to the author.
—Literary Hub, 21 Oct. 2025
White’s fragmentary response forms the core of the story that was used to convict him.
—Eren Orbey, New Yorker, 13 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for fragmentary
Recent Examples of Synonyms for fragmentary
incomplete
Adjective
-
Internal emails reviewed by the Herald/Times show that Uthmeier began teaching at UF’s Levin College of Law more than a month before his first course was formally approved, submitted incomplete syllabi and never received the full faculty sign-off required under law school protocols.—
Garrett Shanley,
Miami Herald,
5 Mar. 2026
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The dam should be left as a monument and memorial to the folly and damage that the incomplete Barge Canal caused.—
Letters to the Editor,
The Orlando Sentinel,
5 Mar. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Fragmentary.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/fragmentary. Accessed 11 Mar. 2026.
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