fracture (n.)

  1. breaking of hard tissue such as bone; it was a nasty fracture; the break seems to have been caused by a fall

    [ Syn: break ]

  2. (geology) a crack in the earths crust resulting from the displacement of one side with respect to the other; they built it right over a geological fault; he studied the faulting of the earths crust

    [ Syn: fault , faulting , geological fault , shift , break ]

  3. the act of cracking something

    [ Syn: crack , cracking ]

    fracture (v.)

  1. violate or abuse; This writer really fractures the language'

  2. interrupt, break, or destroy; fracture the balance of power'

  3. break into pieces; The pothole fractured a bolt on the axle'

  4. become fractured; The tibia fractured from the blow of the iron pipe'

  5. break (a bone); She broke her clavicle'

  6. fracture a bone of; I broke my foot while playing hockey

    [ Syn: break ]

The dictionary is based on the WordNet Electronic Lexical Database.
WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2011 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.