fraction
From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
See also: Fraction
Etymology
Etymology tree
Middle English fraccioun
English fraction
From Middle English fraccioun (“a breaking”), from Anglo-Norman, Old French fraccion, from Medieval Latin fractio (“a fragment, portion”), from earlier Latin fractio (“a breaking, a breaking into pieces”), from fractus, past participle of frangere (“to break”) (whence English frangible), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰreg- (English break). Doublet of frazione.
Pronunciation
Noun
fraction (plural fractions)
- A part of a whole, especially a comparatively small part.
- 1992, Rudolf M[athias] Schuster, The Hepaticae and Anthocerotae of North America: East of the Hundredth Meridian, volume V, Chicago, Ill.: Field Museum of Natural History, →ISBN, 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 […]
- (arithmetic) A ratio of two numbers (numerator and denominator), usually written one above the other and separated by a horizontal bar called the vinculum or, alternatively, in sequence on the same line and separated by a solidus (diagonal bar).
- Synonyms: see Thesaurus:fraction
- (chemistry) A component of a mixture, separated by fractionation.
- (Christianity) In a eucharistic service, the breaking of the host.
- a. 1668 (date written), Jeremy Taylor, “The History of the Life and Death of the Holy Jesus: Discourse XIX.”, in Reginald Heber, editor, The Whole Works of the Right Rev. Jeremy Taylor, D.D. […], volume III, London: Ogle, Duncan, and Co. […]; and Richard Priestley, […], published 1822, →OCLC, page 290:
- […] The bread, when it is consecrated and made sacramental, is the body of our Lord; and the fraction and distribution of it is the communication of that body, which died for us upon the cross.
- A small amount.
- 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter II, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC:
- I had occasion […] to make a somewhat long business trip to Chicago, and on my return […] I found Farrar awaiting me in the railway station. He smiled his wonted fraction by way of greeting, […] , and finally leading me to his buggy, turned and drove out of town.
- 2011 January 29, Chris Bevan, “Torquay 0-1 Crawley Town”, in 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.
- (archaic) The act of breaking, or state of being broken, especially by violence.
- 1563 March 30 (Gregorian calendar), John Foxe, Actes and Monuments of These Latter and Perillous Dayes, […], London: […] Iohn Day, […], →OCLC:
- Neither can the natural body of Christ be subject to any fraction or breaking.
Usage notes
- Can be used with either countable or uncountable nouns; however, the word fraction takes the number of the noun it is paired with.
- If used with a plural countable noun, it needs to take a plural verb.
- If used with a singular countable noun or an uncountable noun, it needs to take a singular verb.
Derived terms
- case fraction
- common fraction
- complex fraction
- continued fraction
- continued-fraction
- decimal fraction
- dyadic fraction
- Egyptian fraction
- ejection fraction
- Euler's continued fraction formula
- field of fractions
- finite continued fraction
- fractional
- fractional calculus
- fractional distillation
- fractional ideal
- fractionalism
- fractionalist
- fractionality
- fractionalization
- fractionalize
- fractionalizing
- fractionally
- fractional reserve banking
- fractionate
- fractionation
- fractionator
- fraction bar
- fractionization
- fractionize
- fractionner
- fraction slash
- general continued fraction
- generalized continued fraction
- improper fraction
- infinite continued fraction
- mass fraction
- mixed fraction
- mole fraction
- ordinal fraction
- partial fraction
- partial fraction decomposition
- partial fraction expansion
- periodic continued fraction
- proper fraction
- regular continued fraction
- representative fraction
- simple continued fraction
- simple fraction
- top-heavy fraction
- total ring of fractions
- unit fraction
- vanishing fraction
- vulgar fraction
Related terms
- fractal
- fractious
- fracture
- fragile
- fragileness
- fragility
- fragment
- frail
- frailness
- frailty
- frangibility
- frangible
- frangibleness
- infract
- infraction
- infrangibility
- infrangible
- infrangibleness
- infringe
- infringeable
- infringee
- infringement
- infringer
- infringest
- noninfringement
- refract
- refraction
- refractive
- refractory
- refrangible
- refringent
Translations
part of a whole
|
arithmetic: ratio
|
chemistry: component separated by fractionation
eucharistic service: breaking of the host
|
- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Verb
fraction (third-person singular simple present fractions, present participle fractioning, simple past and past participle fractioned)
- (transitive) To divide or break into fractions.
- (transitive) To fractionate.
Translations
to divide into fractions
|
References
- “fraction”, in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present.
- “fraction”, in The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 4th edition, Boston, Mass.: Houghton Mifflin, 2000, →ISBN.
- "fraction" in WordNet 2.0, Princeton University, 2003.
- “fraction”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
Anagrams
Etymology
Inherited from Old French fraction, borrowed from Latin fractiōnem.
Pronunciation
Noun
fraction f (plural fractions)
- fraction (small amount)
- Je me suis endormi pendant une fraction de secondes. ― I fell asleep for a fraction of a second.
- (mathematics) fraction
- En divisant deux par trois, on obtient une fraction irréductible. ― When dividing two by three, you get an irreducible fraction.
- fraction, breakup
Derived terms
Related terms
Descendants
Further reading
- “fraction”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
Anagrams
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