Word
fragment
Phoneticsfrag·ment, stress on the first syllable
/ˈfɹæɡmənt/
Definitions
01a broken piece
B2 · Upper Intermediate Countable noun
n. a small piece that has broken off from something larger.
n. a small, detached portion of a physical object or an incomplete part of a non-physical entity.
“The archaeologists found a small fragment of ancient pottery in the sand.”
“The explosion sent fragments of glass flying across the pavement, though fortunately no pedestrians were in the immediate vicinity.”
02grammar
C1 · Advanced Countable noun Grammar Academic
n. an incomplete sentence that is missing a subject or a main action.
n. a group of words that begins with a capital letter and ends with a period but lacks a subject, a predicate, or both.
“The teacher circled the sentence fragment and asked the student to fix it.”
“While common in creative writing for stylistic emphasis, sentence fragments are generally discouraged in formal academic essays.”
Synonyms
03computing
C1 · Advanced Countable noun Computing Technical
n. a small part of a computer file or a specific part of a web address.
n. an incomplete portion of code or a URL component identifying a specific anchor within a resource.
“The web link included a fragment that took me directly to the bottom of the page.”
“The developer spent the afternoon debugging a code fragment that was causing the application to crash during the login sequence.”
04to break apart
B2 · Upper Intermediate
v. to break into many small pieces or separate into different groups.
v. to break or cause to break into small or separate parts; often used figuratively for groups or systems.
“The political party began to fragment after the leaders disagreed on the new law.”
“If the data is allowed to fragment across the hard drive, the system's overall processing speed will eventually decrease.”
Synonyms
Collocations
Common phrases and expressions where native English speakers use the word “fragment” in context.
Adjective
01. small fragment
“The doctor removed a small fragment of glass from the patient's hand.”
adj + noun
Real-World Examples
“You can still see the shapes of epidermal cells in these fossil leaf fragments, and that’s important.” “A 1,600-year-old mummy discovered in Egypt has revealed something archaeologists had never seen before: a fragment of Homer’s Iliad used during embalming.” Etymology
From Late Middle English fragment, from Latin fragmentum (“a fragment, remnant”), from frangō (“to break”) + -mentum.
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Word family
NOUN
ADJECTIVE
Related words
Domains
- Exam level
- CambridgeCambridgeCambridge English QualificationsThe exam suite from Cambridge University Press & Assessment, from A1 Movers up to C2 Proficiency. The benchmark names double as CEFR labels.B2 FirstIELTSIELTSInternational English Language Testing SystemThe 0–9 band test co-owned by the British Council, IDP, and Cambridge. Used for university entry, work, and migration.5.5–6.5TOEFL iBTTOEFL iBTTest of English as a Foreign Language, Internet-Based TestETS's academic English test, the standard route for US university admissions. Scored 0–120, with a 1–6 scale since 2026.1–6 scale: 4.0–4.572–94TOEICTOEICTest of English for International CommunicationETS's workplace English test, big in Japan and Korea. Listening & Reading scores 10–990 and tops out at C1.785–944
- Frequency
- Frequent
- Level
- B2 · Upper IntermediateOxford
- Updated
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