From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishfragmentfrag‧ment1 /ˈfræɡmənt/ ●●○ noun [countable] PIECEa small piece of something that has broken off or that comes from something larger glass fragmentsfragment of fragments of broken pottery► see thesaurus at piece
Examples from the Corpus
fragment• Sonny went staggering back, arms flailing, spitting blood and fragments of teeth.• Or again, might not the last three discoveries listed be fragments of far more extensive geometrical work?• The bullet had pierced the bone, leaving behind fragments which the surgeon was unable to remove.• Typically the biggest fragment produced by breakup is 10 to 50 percent of the total mass.• Some glass fragments hit me when the window was smashed.• The excavation of a Roman town house revealed fragments of a mosaic floor.• And, of course, such fragments have been made to convey many permutations of these uses.• I sensed that fragments of a story, rather than a whole story, were emerging.• The very weak carbonaceous meteorites often fall as showers of tiny fragments with masses of grams.• He was piecing together torn fragments of a letter.• She wished she hadn't; vivid fragments of the previous evening's escapade sprang only too easily to mind.fragment of• Doctors found fragments of metal embedded in his legs.fragmentfrag‧ment2 /fræɡˈment $ ˈfræɡment, fræɡˈment/ verb [intransitive, transitive] SEPARATEto break something, or be broken into a lot of small separate parts – used to show disapproval the dangers of fragmenting the Health Service —fragmented adjective a fragmented society —fragmentation /ˌfræɡmənˈteɪʃən, -men-/ noun [uncountable]→ See Verb tableExamples from the Corpus
fragment• Once one looks away from the north, Gloucester's connection appears to fragment.• At times, the book jumps from place to place in a jarring way, only to fragment at crucial moments.• His day was fragmented by interruptions and phone calls.• A separately organised night-nursing service tends to fragment patient care.Origin fragment1 (1500-1600) Latin fragmentum, from frangere “to break” 