fracture
See also: fracturé
English
![](Images/wiktionary/Pedalarm_Bruch.jpg.webp)
Fracture of an aluminum crank arm of a bicycle, where Bright= brittle fracture, Dark= fatigue fracture.
![](Images/wiktionary/612_Types_of_Fractures.jpg.webp)
Compare healthy bone with different types of fractures:
(a) closed fracture
(b) open fracture
(c) transverse fracture
(d) spiral fracture
(e) comminuted fracture
(f) impacted fracture
(g) greenstick fracture
(h) oblique fracture
(a) closed fracture
(b) open fracture
(c) transverse fracture
(d) spiral fracture
(e) comminuted fracture
(f) impacted fracture
(g) greenstick fracture
(h) oblique fracture
Etymology
From Middle English fracture, from Old French fracture, from Latin fractūra (“a breach, fracture, cleft”), from frangere (“to break”), past participle fractus, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *bʰreg-, from whence also English break. See fraction. Doublet of fraktur.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈfɹæk.t͡ʃə/, /ˈfɹæk.tjə/
Audio (US) (file)
Noun
fracture (plural fractures)
- An instance of breaking, a place where something has broken.
- (medicine) A break in bone or cartilage.
- (geology) A fault or crack in a rock.
Derived terms
- brittle fracture
- complicated fracture
- compound fracture
- compression fracture
- ductile fracture
- Dupuytren's fracture
- fracture mechanics
- fracture plane
- Galeazzi fracture
- greenstick fracture
- hairline fracture
- hangman's fracture
- hip fracture
- Holstein-Lewis fracture
- incomplete fracture
- Jones fracture
- Lisfranc fracture
- Maisonneuve fracture
- mono-fracture
- nightstick fracture
- open fracture
- Pott's fracture
- Salter-Harris fracture
- simple fracture
- Smith's fracture
- stress fracture
- tracheal fracture
- vowel fracture
Related terms
- fractal
- fraction
- fragment
Translations
act of breaking, or something broken
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(medicine) a break in a bone or cartilage
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(geology) fault
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Verb
fracture (third-person singular simple present fractures, present participle fracturing, simple past and past participle fractured)
- (transitive, intransitive) To break, or cause something to break.
- (transitive, slang) To amuse (a person) greatly; to split someone's sides.
- 2013, Frank De Blase, Pine Box for a Pin-Up:
- “You fracture me, Frankie,” Patsy said. “You should take that act on the road. Howsabout now?” This is the way it would go whenever I showed up at Patsy's, a dual of digs and wisecracks with the disapproving groans of those within earshot.
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Translations
break
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Further reading
- fracture in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
- fracture in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911
French
Etymology
From Middle French fracture, from late Old French fracture, borrowed from Latin fractūra. Compare the inherited Old French fraiture, and the frainture (influenced by fraindre).
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /fʁak.tyʁ/
Audio (file) Audio (Paris) (file)
Noun
fracture f (plural fractures)
- fracture
Derived terms
- fracture ouverte
Related terms
- fraction
Descendants
- → Romanian: fractură
Further reading
- “fracture”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
Latin
Participle
frāctūre
- vocative masculine singular of frāctūrus
Spanish
Verb
fracture
- inflection of fracturar:
- first/third-person singular present subjunctive
- third-person singular imperative