Library / English Dictionary

FRAGMENT

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

A broken piece of a brittle artifact

Synonyms:

fragment; shard; sherd

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

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

piece (a separate part of a whole)

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

potsherd (a shard of pottery)

Derivation:

fragment (break or cause to break into pieces)

fragmental; fragmentary (consisting of small disconnected parts)

Sense 2

Meaning:

An incomplete piece

Example:

fragments of a play

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

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

piece (an artistic or literary composition)

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

bit; snatch (a small fragment)

Derivation:

fragment (break or cause to break into pieces)

fragmental; fragmentary (consisting of small disconnected parts)

Sense 3

Meaning:

A piece broken off or cut off of something else

Example:

a fragment of rock

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural objects (not man-made)

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

part; piece (a portion of a natural object)

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

spark (a small fragment of a burning substance thrown out by burning material or by friction)

spall; spawl (a fragment broken off from the edge or face of stone or ore and having at least one thin edge)

scraping ((usually plural) a fragment scraped off of something and collected)

restriction fragment (the fragment of DNA that is produced by cleaving DNA with a restriction enzyme)

paring; shaving; sliver (a thin fragment or slice (especially of wood) that has been shaved from something)

filing (a fragment rubbed off by the use of a file)

coal; ember (a hot fragment of wood or coal that is left from a fire and is glowing or smoldering)

clast ((geology) a constituent fragment of a clastic rock)

cinder; clinker (a fragment of incombustible matter left after a wood or coal or charcoal fire)

brickbat (a fragment of brick used as a weapon)

bit; chip; flake; fleck; scrap (a small fragment of something broken off from the whole)

Derivation:

fragmentize (break or cause to break into pieces)

fragmentary; fragmental (consisting of small disconnected parts)

fragment (break or cause to break into pieces)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Break or cause to break into pieces

Example:

The plate fragmented

Synonyms:

break up; fragment; fragmentise; fragmentize

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

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

break; come apart; fall apart; separate; split up (become separated into pieces or fragments)

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

atomise; atomize (break up into small particles)

bray; comminute; crunch; grind; mash (reduce to small pieces or particles by pounding or abrading)

pound (break down and crush by beating, as with a pestle)

sunder (break apart or in two, using violence)

sliver; splinter (break up into splinters or slivers)

rag (break into lumps before sorting)

crumb (break into crumbs)

brecciate (break into breccia)

crush (break into small pieces)

grate; grind (make a grating or grinding sound by rubbing together)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s somebody of something

Derivation:

fragment (a broken piece of a brittle artifact)

fragment (an incomplete piece)

fragment (a piece broken off or cut off of something else)

fragmentation (separating something into fine particles)

fragmentation (the scattering of bomb fragments after the bomb explodes)

fragmentation ((computer science) the condition of a file that is broken up and stored in many different locations on a magnetic disk)

fragmentation (the disintegration of social norms governing behavior and thought and social relationships)

Credits

 Context examples: 

Vintana belongs to a group of early mammals called gondwanatherians, which had been known only from a few teeth and jaw fragments.

(Scientists discover fossil of bizarre groundhog-like mammal on Madagascar, NSF)

Another idea is that gas moving toward the giant elliptical NGC 1052 may have fragmented and formed NGC 1052-DF2.

(Dark Matter Goes Missing in Oddball Galaxy, NASA)

Secondary crater chains, the most common of the linear features, are long strings of circular depressions created by fragments thrown out of large impact craters as they formed on Ceres.

(Dawn Explores Ceres' Interior Evolution, NASA)

Samples from 3 people per tissue type were processed through several steps, and then the protein fragments (peptides) were analyzed on high-resolution Fourier-transform mass spectrometers.

(Revealing the human proteome, NIH)

The scientists discovered that the apoE4 protein is not able to properly function in human neurons, and is broken down into fragments.

(Alzheimer's Disease Gene Successfully Removed From Human Brain, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

The plaques are abnormal clumps of toxic fragments of the protein beta-amyloid.

(Human Cells Model Alzheimer’s Disease, NIH)

Half of the fragments found will remain in Iran, with the other half already back at the test lab in Russia.

(Huge Haul of Extraterrestrial Material Recovered from Iranian Desert, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

Anti-EpCAM-Pseudomonas-exotoxin fusion protein is made by linking a monoclonal antibody fragment to a toxic protein that may kill cancer cells.

(Anti-EpCAM Antibody Fragment-Pseudomonas-exotoxin Fusion Protein, NCI Dictionary)

The anti-mesothelin mRNA encodes a single chain antibody variable fragment (ScFv), the intracellular CD 3 zeta T cell receptor domain and the 4-1BB (cd137) costimulatory domain.

(Anti-mesothelin CIR mRNA-electroporated Autologous T Cells, NCI Thesaurus)

The Fab fragment of the B6.2 monoclonal antibody that recognizes the B6.2 antigen, a 90,000-d glycoprotein found on the surface of human mammary tumors.

(Monoclonal Antibody B6.2 F(ab'), NCI Thesaurus)