fragment

Definition

A part broken off; a small, detached portion; an imperfect part, either physically or not

Etymology

From Late Middle English fragment, from Latin fragmentum (“a fragment, remnant”), from frangō (“to break”) + -mentum.

Example Sentences

• "a fragment of an ancient writing"
• "I heard a small fragment of the conversation."
• "[…]and two enormous Scottish poems, the Buik of Alexander, which has been improbably ascribed to Barbour, and Sir Gilbert Hay's Buik of Alexander the Conquerour; one nearly complete Prose Life of Alexander and fragments of four others; a stanzaic translation of the Fuerres de Gadres which survives only in a fragment, the Romance of Cassamus, and three separate translations of the Secreta Secretorum."

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