Library / English Dictionary

FRACTION

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

A small part or item forming a piece of a whole

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("fraction" is a kind of...):

part; portion (something less than the whole of a human artifact)

Derivation:

fractional (constituting or comprising a part or fraction of a possible whole or entirety)

Sense 2

Meaning:

The quotient of two rational numbers

Classified under:

Nouns denoting quantities and units of measure

Hypernyms ("fraction" is a kind of...):

rational; rational number (an integer or a fraction)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "fraction"):

fixed-point part; mantissa (the positive fractional part of the representation of a logarithm; in the expression log 643 = 2.808 the mantissa is .808)

common fraction; simple fraction (the quotient of two integers)

improper fraction (a fraction whose numerator is larger than the denominator)

proper fraction (a fraction with a numerator smaller than the denominator)

complex fraction; compound fraction (a fraction with fractions in the numerator or denominator)

continued fraction (a fraction whose numerator is an integer and whose denominator is an integer plus a fraction whose numerator is an integer and whose denominator is an integer plus a fraction and so on)

Derivation:

fraction (perform a division)

Sense 3

Meaning:

A component of a mixture that has been separated by a fractional process

Classified under:

Nouns denoting substances

Hypernyms ("fraction" is a kind of...):

chemical; chemical substance (material produced by or used in a reaction involving changes in atoms or molecules)

Derivation:

fractionate (obtain by a fractional process)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Perform a division

Example:

Can you divide 49 by seven?

Synonyms:

divide; fraction

Classified under:

Verbs of thinking, judging, analyzing, doubting

Hypernyms (to "fraction" is one way to...):

calculate; cipher; compute; cypher; figure; reckon; work out (make a mathematical calculation or computation)

Domain category:

arithmetic (the branch of pure mathematics dealing with the theory of numerical calculations)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "fraction"):

halve (divide by two; divide into halves)

quarter (divide by four; divide into quarters)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s

Derivation:

fraction (the quotient of two rational numbers)

Credits

 Context examples: 

This is a small fraction of the landscape — much less than 1 percent of the surface area of the northern hemisphere.

(Dawn Maps Ceres Craters Where Ice Can Accumulate, NASA)

The polymeric fraction of dietary fiber that includes all polysaccharides and excludes lignin and all starch.

(Non-Starch Polysaccharide, NCI Thesaurus/CRCH)

A unit of mass fraction expressed as a number of nanograms of a substance per kilogram of the mixture.

(Nanogram per Kilogram, NCI Thesaurus)

A unit of a mass fraction expressed as a number of milligrams of substance per kilogram of mixture.

(Milligram per Kilogram, NCI Thesaurus)

A relative measurement (ratio or percentage) of alpha-2-fraction proteins to total proteins in a biological specimen.

(Alpha-2 Globulin to Total Protein Ratio Measurement, NCI Thesaurus/CDISC)

The ratio of standard deviation to mean, expressed as a percentage or fraction.

(Coefficient of Variance, NCI Thesaurus)

It utilizes nucleic acids treated with a chemical in such a way that only a fraction of the nucleotides are chemically modified.

(Chemical Interference, NCI Thesaurus)

An insoluble fraction isolated from the bacterium Corynebacterium granulosum with potential cancer immunotherapeutic activity.

(Corynebacterium Granulosum P40, NCI Thesaurus)

A small fraction of the total IGF-I in blood is in a bioactive-free fraction.

(Food Intake and Energy Homeostasis Pathway, NCI Thesaurus/BIOCARTA)

A finding based on test results that indicate a relative decrease in the fraction of the forced vital capacity that is exhaled in a specific number of seconds.

(Decreased Forced Expiratory Volume, NCI Thesaurus/CTCAE)