fracture
pronunciation
How to pronounce fracture in British English:
UK [ˈfræktʃə(r)]
How to pronounce fracture in American English:
US [ˈfræktʃər]
-
- Noun:
- breaking of hard tissue such as bone
- (geology) a crack in the earth's crust resulting from the displacement of one side with respect to the other
- the act of cracking something
-
- Verb:
- violate or abuse
- interrupt, break, or destroy
- break into pieces
- become fractured
- break (a bone)
- fracture a bone of
Word Origin
- fracture (n.)
- early 15c., "a breaking of a bone," from Middle French fracture (14c.), from Latin fractura "a breach, break, cleft," from fractus, past participle of frangere "to break" (see fraction). As "a broken surface" from 1794.
- fracture (v.)
- "cause a fracture in" (transitive), 1610s (implied in fractured), from fracture (n.). Intransitive meaning "become fractured" is from 1830. Related: Fracturing.
Example
- 1. I don 't feel very well because I had a fracture .
- 2. But what if the runway were to fracture or split apart ?
- 3. If you sneeze too hard , you could fracture a rib .
- 4. The average fracture frequency for the pleistocene species she sampled came to 8 % whereas for modern species it was only 2 % .
- 5. Mr chirac was elected in 1995 on promises to cut taxes , to curb unemployment and to " mend the social fracture " .