Fractured

How to spell fractured

9 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce fractured

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does fractured mean?

1. adjectiveBroken, cracked, or split, either physically or in the sense of being divided and weakened.
2. verbBroke or cracked something, or caused it to split apart.

Fractured in a sentence

• adjective

  The surgeon set the fractured bone before applying the cast.

• verb

  She fractured her wrist when she slipped on the icy steps.

• adjective

  A deeply fractured political party struggled to agree on anything.

• verb

  The dispute over money fractured a friendship that had lasted decades.

Where does fractured come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word descends from the Latin verb frangere, meaning 'to break', whose past participle was fractus, literally 'broken'. From fractus came the Latin noun fractura, 'a breaking', which passed through Old French and into English in the fifteenth century as 'fracture', first used in the medical sense of a broken bone. The verb form, and the past-tense and adjective 'fractured', then developed naturally in English to describe anything that has been broken or split apart, whether literally or figuratively. The same Latin root frangere lies behind a surprising family of relatives, including 'fragment', 'fragile', 'fraction', and even 'refract', all of which carry that core idea of breaking. Knowing that the spelling preserves the Latin fract (not 'frak') helps fix the silent-looking 'ct' cluster in the mind.

How the word is built

• fract- (from Latin fractus, broken)
• -ure (forming a noun)
• -ed (past tense / adjective suffix)