Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun The act or process of breaking.
- noun The condition of having been broken or ruptured.
- noun A break, rupture, or crack, especially in bone or cartilage.
- noun The characteristic manner in which a mineral breaks.
- noun The characteristic appearance of the surface of a broken mineral.
- noun Geology A crack or fault in a rock.
- intransitive verb To cause to break: synonym: break.
- intransitive verb To undergo a break in (a bone).
- intransitive verb To disrupt or destroy as if by breaking.
- intransitive verb To abuse or misuse flagrantly, as by violating rules.
- intransitive verb Slang To cause to laugh heartily.
- intransitive verb To undergo a fracture.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun In phonology, same as
breaking , 2. - To break; cause a fracture in; crack: as, to
fracture a bone or the skull. - Synonyms Cleave, Split, etc. See
rend , and fracture, n. - To break; undergo fracture.
- noun A breaking or a break; especially, a partial or total separation of parts of a continuous solid body under the action of a force; specifically, in surgery, the breaking of a bone.
- noun A broken surface, with reference to texture or configuration, or to manner of breaking; specifically, in mineralogy, the characteristic breakage of a substance, or appearance presented on a surface other than that of cleavage: as, a compact fracture; a fibrous fracture; foliated, striated, or conchoidal fracture, etc.
- noun Forcible separation or disunion; quarreling.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- transitive verb To cause a fracture or fractures in; to break; to burst asunder; to crack; to separate the continuous parts of
- noun The act of breaking or snapping asunder; rupture; breach.
- noun (Surg.) The breaking of a bone.
- noun (Min.) The texture of a freshly broken surface
- noun (Surg.) a fracture in which the bone is broken into several parts.
- noun (Surg.) a fracture of the bone combined with the lesion of some artery, nervous trunk, or joint.
- noun (Surg.) a fracture in which there is an open wound from the surface down to the fracture.
- noun (Surg.) a fracture in which the bone only is ruptured. It does not communicate with the surface by an open wound.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun the act of
breaking , or something that hasbroken , especially that inbone orcartilage - noun geology a
fault orcrack in arock - verb to
break , or cause something to break
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- verb break into pieces
- noun breaking of hard tissue such as bone
- verb become fractured
- verb fracture a bone of
- verb violate or abuse
- noun the act of cracking something
- verb interrupt, break, or destroy
- verb break (a bone)
- noun (geology) a crack in the earth's crust resulting from the displacement of one side with respect to the other
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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From the frequency with which this fracture occurs while cranking a motor-car, it is conveniently described as _Chauffeur's fracture_; we have observed in doctors, who have sustained this fracture in their own persons, that they were under the impression that they had sustained a trivial sprain of the wrist.
Manual of Surgery Volume Second: Extremities—Head—Neck. Sixth Edition. Alexander Miles 1893
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If the limits of its elasticity are not exceeded, the bone recoils into its normal position when the force ceases to act; but if the bone is bent beyond the point from which it can recoil, a fracture takes place -- "_fracture by bending_."
Manual of Surgery Volume Second: Extremities—Head—Neck. Sixth Edition. Alexander Miles 1893
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If, therefore, the part which is depressed -- that is, the part directly struck -- happens to be less elastic than the part which bulges, it gives way, and a fracture by "bending" results; but if the bulging part is the less elastic, it bursts outwards -- _fracture by_
Manual of Surgery Volume Second: Extremities—Head—Neck. Sixth Edition. Alexander Miles 1893
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-- The term fracture is derived from a Greek word which signifies "to break," and is employed to convey the idea of a division, by violence, of bone or cartilage.
An Epitome of Practical Surgery, for Field and Hospital. 1863
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"No, not ill, though the fracture is a very painful and inconvenient one."
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Watching the GOP fracture is becoming a favorite pasttime of mine.
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Without a strong leader factionalisation and fracture is often the result.
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And for your information Since you decided to be personal the accident i was in fracture 4 vertabrae in my back and left me physically unable to perform the duties the job would entail seeing as it took me 2 years to learn to walk again ...
On Cops and Guns 2008
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He'll have another diagnostic test to see if the fracture is completely gone before he is given clearance.
USATODAY.com 2007
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“Whether this is a longer term fracture or something that owes to Barack Obama is not yet clear.”
From Pulpits of Ohio, a Mixed Message - The Caucus Blog - NYTimes.com 2008
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