fracture Hear it!

fracture Definition

frac·ture (frak′c̸hər)

noun

  1. a breaking or being broken
  2. a break, crack, or split
  3. a break in a body part, esp. in a bone, or a tear in a cartilage
  4. the texture, shape, etc. of the broken surface of a mineral as distinct from when it breaks along its cleavage plane conchoidal fracture

Etymology: ME < OFr < L fractura, a breaking, breach, cleft < pp. of frangere, break

transitive verb, intransitive verb -·tured, -·tur·ing

  1. to break, crack, or split
  2. to break up; disrupt

fracture Related Forms
frac′·tural adjective
fracture Synonyms

fracture

n.

  1. The act of breaking

    rupture, breakage, disjunction, cleaving, cleavage, disseverment, riving, displacement, dislocation, severing, separating, dismemberment.

  2. The result of being broken

    break, wound, cleft, mutilation, crack, shattering, breach, split, rupture, fragmentation, fissure, fault; see also sense 1; hole 1.

  3. A break in the skeletal system

    broken bone, broken limb, simple fracture, closed fracture, compound fracture, greenstick fracture, ruptured cartilage; see also senses 1 and 2.

fracture Synonyms

fracture

v.

break, crack, split, shatter; see break 1. See syn. study at break.

fracture Usage Examples

Preposition: of

  • femur: There were other fractures of the femur which did not give signs of shortening.
  • humerus: It was taken to the rehabilitation aviary at Gigrin but was found to have a compound fracture of the humerus.
  • malleolus: The significance a fracture of the posterior malleolus is controversial.
  • calcaneus: We report a rare case of an avulsion fracture of the calcaneus.

Converse of object

  • displace: Early prediction of failures in 203 elderly patients with displaced fractures.
  • sustain: August at 16.00 An 11-year-old girl sustained an ankle fracture.

Adjective modifier

  • osteoporotic: The cost of treating osteoporotic fractures in the United Kingdom female population.
  • vertebral: However, up to two thirds of vertebral fractures are detected on X-ray rather than by clinical symptoms or signs.
  • femoral: I also feel that in order to minimize the risk of iatrogenic femoral shaft fracture, a full trial reduction should be avoided.
  • non-vertebral: None of the five interventions has been shown to reduce the risk of non-vertebral fracture in women unselected for low BMD.
  • tibial: Failure of fixation in tibial plateau fractures is very high in elderly patients due to poor bone quality.
  • brittle: Looks like a volcanic flow with a surface of brittle fractures a result of mechanical erosion of the face.

Modifies a noun

  • toughness: Measurement of the plane strain fracture toughness of an alloy steel.
  • mechanic: Research in a variety of fields, ranging from fracture mechanics to ecological modeling.

Noun used with modifier

  • hip: The first regional hip fracture audit was conducted in 1992.
  • fragility: The cost to the NHS is £ 1.7 billion a year [ NICE, 2004b ]. What are the risk factors for fragility fracture?
  • hairline: A long handled hammer was all that was needed to detect wheels with hairline fractures.
  • skull: Skull fracture Meningitis can be a serious complication following a skull fracture.
  • avulsion: We report a rare case of an avulsion fracture of the calcaneus.
  • ankle: Last year I had a slight ankle fracture, too.