fraction
Syllables: frac·tion/ˈfɹæk.ʃən/
fraction noun: a part of a whole, especially a comparatively small part.
Noun
fraction (plural fractions)
- A part of a whole, especially a comparatively small part.
- 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...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
- 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).
- Gasoline prices show the mill as a fraction, for example $3.59+⁹⁄₁₀.
- A component of a mixture, separated by fractionation.
- In a eucharistic service, the breaking of the host.
- […] 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.(Can we date this quote?), “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...
- A small amount.
- 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.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
- 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.2011 January 29, Chris Bevan, “Torquay 0-1 Crawley Town”, in BBC
- The act of breaking, or state of being broken, especially by violence.
- Neither can the natural body of Christ be subject to any fraction or breaking.1563 March 30 (Gregorian calendar), John Foxe, Actes and Monuments of These Latter and Perillous Dayes, […], London: […] Iohn Day, […], →OCLC
Verb
fraction (third-person singular simple present fractions, present participle fractioning, simple past and past participle fractioned)
- To divide or break into fractions.
- To fractionate.
Proper noun capitalized: Fraction
Fraction
- A surname.
fraction meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
fraction in Hindi
- part of a whole
- अंश añś
- arithmetic: ratio
- भिन्न bhinn
fraction in Tamil
- பின்னம்
fraction in Marathi
- part of a whole
- अपूर्णांक apūrṇāṅka
- arithmetic: ratio
- गुणोत्तर guṇottar
fraction in Urdu
- arithmetic: ratio
- کَسْر kasr
More languagesFewer languages
- fraction in Bengali
- ভগ্নাংশ, ভগ্নাঙ্ক, টুকরা, একতাহানি
- fraction in Telugu
- భిన్నరాశి
- fraction in Malayalam
- ഭിന്നസംഖ്യ bhinnasaṅkhya, ഭിന്നം bhinnaṁ
- fraction in Kannada
- ಭಿನ್ನಾಂಕ, ಭಿನ್ನರಾಶಿ, ಪೂರ್ಣವಲ್ಲದ ಸಂಖ್ಯೆ, ಅಲ್ಪಭಾಗ
- fraction in Punjabi
- ਭਿੰਨ bhinn, ਕਸਰ kasar
- fraction in Gujarati
- અપૂર્ણાંક, અંશ
- fraction in Odia
- ରାଶି rāśi, ଅଂଶ aṁśa
- fraction in Nepali
- भिन्नांश
- fraction in Tagalog
- praksiyon, parte, bahagi, hatimbilang
- fraction in Arabic
- قِطْعَة qiṭʕa, كَسْر kasr, كُسُور kusūr
- fraction in Malay
- pecahan
- fraction in Indonesian
- pecahan
- fraction in Thai
- เศษส่วน sèet-sùuan
- fraction in Vietnamese
- phần, tỷ lệ, phân số
- fraction in Myanmar
- အပိုင်းဂဏန်း a.puing:ga.nan:
Examples of fraction in a sentence
- Fractions would be a little easier if we counted by twelves.
- By molar fraction, nitric oxide contains equal parts nitrogen and oxygen.
- By molar fraction, calcium oxide contains equal parts calcium and oxygen.
Forms of fraction
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | fractions |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | fractions |
| present participle | fractioning |
| past participle | fractioned |
| past | fractioned |
Origin of 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.
Words formed from fraction
- abfraction
- biofraction
- case fraction
- common fraction
- complex fraction
- continued fraction
- continued-fraction
- decimal fraction
- dyadic fraction
- Egyptian fraction
- ejection fraction
- Euler's continued fraction formula
- field of fractions
- finite continued fraction
- fractile
- fractionable
- fractional
- fractional calculus
- fractional distillation
- fractional ideal
- fractionalism
- fractionalist
- fractionality
- fractionalization
- fractionalize
- fractionalizing
- fractionally
- fractional reserve banking
- fractionary
- fractionate
- fractionation
- fractionator
- fraction bar
- fractionise
- fractionization
- fractionize
- fractionner
- fraction slash
- general continued fraction
- generalized continued fraction
- glycofraction
- hypofraction
- improper fraction
- infinite continued fraction
- interfraction
- intrafraction
- mass fraction
- microfraction
- mixed fraction
- mole fraction
- oligofraction
- ordinal fraction
- partial fraction
- partial fraction decomposition
- partial fraction expansion
- periodic continued fraction
- proper fraction
- regular continued fraction
- representative fraction
- simple continued fraction
Phrases with fraction
Words that rhyme with fraction
Questions about fraction
- What does fraction mean?
- Fraction means a part of a whole, especially a comparatively small part.
- What is fraction in Hindi?
- Fraction in Hindi is अंश (añś), भिन्न (bhinn). See Fraction meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is fraction?
- Fraction can be a noun, a verb or a proper noun.
- How do you pronounce fraction?
- Fraction is pronounced /ˈfɹæk.ʃən/.
- What is the plural of fraction?
- The plural of fraction is fractions.
Words near fraction in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: fraction (page history and authors); Fraction (page history and authors); fraction (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); fraction (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); fraction (Telugu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); fraction (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); ਕਸਰ (Punjabi) (page history and authors); fraction (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); ଅଂଶ (Odia) (page history and authors); fraction (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-fraction.wav.
Cite this entry: “fraction.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/fraction. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.