fraction

English

Etymology

From Middle English fraccioun (“a breaking”), from Anglo-Norman, from Medieval Latin fractio (“a fragment, portion”), from earlier Latin fractio (“a breaking, a breaking into pieces”), from fractus (English fracture), past participle of frangere (“to break”) (whence English frangible), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰrag- (English break).

Pronunciation

Noun

fraction (plural fractions)

  1. A part of a whole, especially a comparatively small part.
    • 1992, Rudolf M. Schuster, The Hepaticae and Anthocerotae of North America: East of the Hundredth Meridian, volume V, page vii
      With fresh material, taxonomic conclusions are leavened by recognition that the material examined reflects the site it occupied; a herbarium packet gives one only a small fraction of the data desirable for sound conclusions. Herbarium material does not, indeed, allow one to extrapolate safely: what you see is what you get […]
  2. A ratio of two numbers, the numerator and the denominator, usually written one above the other and separated by a horizontal bar.
  3. (chemistry) A component of a mixture, separated by fractionation.
  4. In a eucharistic service, the breaking of the host.
  5. A small amount.
    • 2011 January 29, Chris Bevan, “Torquay 0 - 1 Crawley Town”, BBC:
      After kick-off was delayed because of crowd congestion, Torquay went closest to scoring in a cagey opening 30 minutes, when Danny Stevens saw a fierce shot from the edge of the area swerve a fraction wide.

Quotations

Derived terms

Terms derived from fraction (noun)

Related terms

Terms etymologically related to fraction

Translations

part of a whole
arithmetic: ratio
chemistry: component separated by fractionation
eucharistic service: breaking of the host
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Verb

fraction (third-person singular simple present fractions, present participle fractioning, simple past and past participle fractioned)

  1. To divide or break into fractions.

Translations

to divide intio fractions

References

  • “fraction” in Dictionary.com Unabridged, v1.0.1, Lexico Publishing Group, 2006.
  • “fraction” in The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition, Houghton Mifflin Company, 2000.
  • "fraction" in WordNet 3.0, Princeton University, 2006.
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French

Pronunciation

Noun

fraction f (plural fractions)

  1. fraction (small amount)
    Je me suis endormi pendant une fraction de secondes.
  2. (mathematics) fraction
    En divisant deux par trois, on obtient une fraction irréductible.
  3. fraction, breakup

Derived terms

Anagrams

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Last modified on 20 May 2013, at 16:32