fracture

Reading level: hard

Estimated CEFR level: C2 — Proficiency

Estimated from word frequency; not an official CEFR classification.

Definition

  1. noun breaking of hard tissue such as bone
  2. noun (geology) a crack in the earth's crust resulting from the displacement of one side with respect to the other
  3. noun the act of cracking something

Etymology

From Middle English fracture, from Old French fracture, from Latin frāctūra (“a breach, fracture, cleft”), from frangere (“to break”), past participle frāctus, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *bʰreg-, whence also English break. See fraction. Doublet of fraktur.

In classic literature

Synonyms

break

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