fraction

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See also: Fraction

English[edit]

English Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia

Etymology[edit]

From Middle English fraccioun (“a breaking”), from Anglo-Norman, Old French fraction, from Medieval Latin fractio (“a fragment, portion”), from earlier Latin fractio (“a breaking, a breaking into pieces”), from fractus (English fracture), past participle of frangere (“to break”) (whence English frangible), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰreg- (English break).

Pronunciation[edit]

  • enPR: frăkʹshən, IPA(key): /ˈfɹæk.ʃən/
  • Audio (Southern England)(file)
  • Hyphenation: frac‧tion
  • Rhymes: -ækʃən

Noun[edit]

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, New York, N.Y.: Columbia University Press, →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, 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[edit]

  • 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[edit]

Related terms[edit]

Translations[edit]

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Verb[edit]

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

  1. To divide or break into fractions.

Translations[edit]

References[edit]

Anagrams[edit]

French[edit]

Etymology[edit]

Inherited from Old French fraction, borrowed from Latin fractiōnem.

Pronunciation[edit]

Noun[edit]

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[edit]

Related terms[edit]

Descendants[edit]

  • → Romanian: fracțiune
  • → Turkish: fraksiyon

Further reading[edit]

Anagrams[edit]

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