Fracture

• POS: Noun, Verb (usu participle)
• HYPHEN: frac=ture

CIDE DICTIONARY

Fracture, n. [L. fractura, fr. frangere, fractum, to break: cf. F. fracture. See Fraction.].

•  The act of breaking or snapping asunder; rupture; breach.  [1913 Webster]
•  The breaking of a bone.  [1913 Webster]
•  The texture of a freshly broken surface; as, a compact fracture; an even, hackly, or conchoidal fracture.  [1913 Webster]

Comminuted fracture (Surg.), a fracture in which the bone is broken into several parts. -- Complicated fracture (Surg.), a fracture of the bone combined with the lesion of some artery, nervous trunk, or joint. -- Compound fracture (Surg.), a fracture in which there is an open wound from the surface down to the fracture. -- Simple fracture (Surg.), a fracture in which the bone only is ruptured. It does not communicate with the surface by an open wound.

Syn. -- Fracture, Rupture.

Fracture, v. t. [Cf. F. fracturer.].

 To cause a fracture or fractures in; to break; to burst asunder; to crack; to separate the continuous parts of; as, to fracture a bone; to fracture the skull.  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

Fracture, n. & v.
--n.
1 a breakage or breaking, esp. of a bone or cartilage. b the result of breaking; a crack or split.
2 the surface appearance of a freshly broken rock or mineral.
3 Linguistics a the substitution of a diphthong for a simple vowel owing to an influence esp. of a following consonant. b a diphthong substituted in this way.
--v.intr. & tr.
1 Med. undergo or cause to undergo a fracture.
2 break or cause to break.

Etymology

ME f. F fracture or f. L fractura (as FRACTION)

THESAURUS

Fracture

abrade, abrasion, abysm, abyss, amuse, arroyo, bark, beguile, blemish, bloody, box canyon, breach, break, break open, break up, breakage, breaking, burn, burst, bust, canyon, cavity, chafe, chap, chasm, check, chimney, chink, chip, claw, cleavage, cleave, cleft, cleuch, clough, col, come apart, come unstuck, concussion, convulse, coulee, couloir, crack, crackle, cranny, craze, crevasse, crevice, cut, cut apart, cwm, defile, delight, dell, dike, disintegrate, ditch, divert, division, donga, draw, enliven, entertain, excavation, exfoliate, exhilarate, fall to pieces, fault, fissure, flash burn, flaw, flume, fracture one, fray, frazzle, fret, furrow, gall, gap, gape, gash, give away, give way, gorge, groove, gulch, gulf, gully, hole, hurt, incise, incision, injure, injury, joint, kill, kloof, knock dead, lacerate, laceration, leak, lesion, loosen up, maim, make mincemeat of, maul, moat, mortal wound, mutilate, mutilation, notch, nullah, open, opening, pass, passage, pierce, puncture, raise a laugh, raise a smile, ravine, recreate, refresh, regale, relax, rend, rent, rift, rime, rip, rive, run, rupture, savage, scald, scale, schism, scissure, scorch, scotch, scrape, scratch, scuff, seam, second-degree burn, separate, separation, skin, slash, slay, slice, slit, slot, snap, solace, sore, splinter, split, sprain, spring a leak, stab, stab wound, start, stick, strain, tear, third-degree burn, tickle, titillate, trauma, traumatize, trench, valley, void, wadi, wound, wounds immedicable, wow, wrench

ROGET THESAURUS

Fracture

Disjunction

N disjunction, disconnection, disunity, disunion, disassociation, disengagement, discontinuity, abjunction, cataclasm, inconnection, abstraction, abstractedness, isolation, insularity, insulation, oasis, island, separateness, severalty, disjecta membra, dispersion, apportionment, separation, parting, circumcision, detachment, segregation, divorce, sejunction, seposition, diduction, diremption, discerption, elision, caesura, break, fracture, division, subdivision, rupture, compartition, dismemberment, dislocation, luxation, severance, disseverance, scission, rescission, abscission, laceration, dilaceration, disruption, abruption, avulsion, divulsion, section, resection, cleavage, fission, partibility, separability, fissure, breach, rent, split, rift, crack, slit, incision, dissection anatomy, decomposition, cutting instrument, buzzsaw, circular saw, rip saw, separatist, disjoined, discontinuous, multipartite, abstract, disjunctive, secant, isolated, insular, separate, disparate, discrete, apart, asunder, far between, loose, free, unattached, unannexed, unassociated, unconnected, distinct, adrift, straggling, rift, reft, scissile, divisible, discerptible, partible, separable, separately, one by one, severally, apart, adrift, asunder, in twain, in the abstract, abstractedly.

Discontinuity

N discontinuity, disjunction, anacoluthon, interruption, break, fracture, flaw, fault, crack, cut, gap, solution of continuity, caesura, broken thread, parenthesis, episode, rhapsody, patchwork, intermission, alternation, dropping fire, discontinuous, unsuccessive, broken, interrupted, dicousu, disconnected, unconnected, discrete, disjunctive, fitful, spasmodic, desultory, intermitting, occasional, intermittent, alternate, recurrent, at intervals, by snatches, by jerks, by skips, by catches, by fits and starts, skippingly, per saltum, longo intervallo, like 'angel visits few and far between'.