fraction

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See also: Fraction

English

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Etymology

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    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

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    Noun

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    fraction (plural fractions)

    1. 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 […]
    2. (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
    3. (chemistry) A component of a mixture, separated by fractionation.
    4. (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.
    5. 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.
    6. (archaic) The act of breaking, or state of being broken, especially by violence.

    Usage notes

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    • 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

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    Translations

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    Translations to be checked

    Verb

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

    1. (transitive) To divide or break into fractions.
    2. (transitive) To fractionate.

    Translations

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    References

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    Anagrams

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    French

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    Etymology

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    Inherited from Old French fraction, borrowed from Latin fractiōnem.

    Pronunciation

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    Noun

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    fraction f (plural fractions)

    1. fraction (small amount)
      Je me suis endormi pendant une fraction de secondes. ― I fell asleep for a fraction of a second.
    2. (mathematics) fraction
      En divisant deux par trois, on obtient une fraction irréductible. ― When dividing two by three, you get an irreducible fraction.
    3. fraction, breakup

    Derived terms

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    Descendants

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    • → Romanian: fracțiune
    • → Turkish: fraksiyon
    • → Persian: فراکسیون (ferâksyon)

    Further reading

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    Anagrams

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