Fragment Meaning
/ˈfɹæɡmənt/Definition, CEFR level C1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
nounA part broken off; a small, detached portion; an imperfect part, either physically or not
nounA sentence not containing a subject or a predicate; a sentence fragment.
Sentence Examples
There's a tiny fragment that's broken off.
A fragment of ice floated by.
The doctor performed surgery to remove the metal fragment.
CEFR Practice Quiz
After the explosion, only a tiny ____ of the original sculpture remained.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The archaeologist carefully brushed away the dirt to reveal a small ____ of ancient pottery.
Word Origin & History
From Late Middle English fragment, from Latin fragmentum (“a fragment, remnant”), from frangō (“to break”) + -mentum.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"[…]and two enormous Scottish poems, the Buik of Alexander, which has been improbably ascribed to Barbour, and Sir Gilbert Hay's Buik of Alexander the Conquerour; one nearly complete Prose Life of Alexander and fragments of four others; a stanzaic translation of the Fuerres de Gadres which survives only in a fragment, the Romance of Cassamus, and three separate translations of the Secreta Secretorum."
— 2012, William Matthews, The Tragedy of Arthur, University of California Press, page 68:
"Unique URLs requires you to make like an information architect and do some URL design work. Possibly, you'll be controlling only the fragment identifier rather than the entire URL, but even the fragment identifier has usability implications."
— 2006, Michael Mahemoff, Ajax Design Patterns, O'Reilly Media, →ISBN, page 523:
"Once the centralized power of Rome fragmented, economic, social and political power simplified and relocalized."
— 2023 July 31, Charles Hugh Smith, Lessons from the Unraveling of the Roman Empire: Simplification, Localization:
"An investigation found that the rail had fragmented as trains passed over it, and that the likely cause was "rolling contact fatigue" defined as multiple surface-breaking cracks. Repeated high loading had caused fatigue cracks to grow, resulting in what is called gauge corner cracking."
— 2026 March 18, Peter Plisner, “Tackling broken rails: the skills and technology improving safety”, in RAIL, number 1057, page 30:
"Samois includes celebate ^([sic]), heterosexual and bisexual women as well as lesbians, and I feel very strongly that this is the wisest choice. Our community is so fragile that we can't afford to fragment it by excommunicating non-lesbian women."
— 1982 December 18, Pat Califa, “Open Policy”, in Gay Community News, volume 10, number 22, page 5:
Explore More C1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
After the explosion, only a tiny ____ of the original sculpture remained.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The archaeologist carefully brushed away the dirt to reveal a small ____ of ancient pottery.