Meanings
nounfracture (plural fractures)
plural fractures
- An instance of breaking, a place where something has broken.
Hall found the immediate cause at Rickerscote to have been the complete fracture of an axle on STS 53241, the freight train's ninth wagon. The fracture had been caused by fatigue initiated by corrosion pitting on the axle surface.
2026 March 18, Greg Morse, “1996 crash driving freight reforms”, in RAIL, number 1057, page 51
verbfracture (third-person singular simple present fractures, present participle fracturing, simple past and past participle fractured)
present singular third person fractures · participle present fracturing · participle past fractured · past fractured
- ambitransitiveTo break, or cause something to break.
- slangtransitiveTo amuse (a person) greatly; to split someone's sides.
“You fracture me, Frankie,” Patsy said. “You should take that act on the road. Howsabout now?” This is the way it would go whenever I showed up at Patsy's, a dual of digs and wisecracks with the disapproving groans of those within earshot.
2013, Frank De Blase, Pine Box for a Pin-Up
Synonyms & antonyms
noun(geology) a crack in the earth's crust resulting from the displacement of one side with respect to the other
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Proto-Indo-European*bʰreg-
- Latinfrangō
- Latinfrāctūrus
- Latinfrāctūra
- Old Frenchfracture
- Middle Englishfracture
- Englishfracture
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.
More words from Middle English, Old French, Latin
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Afrikaans breuk, fraksie
- breukact of breaking, or something broken
- fraksieact of breaking, or something broken
Ancient Greek ῥῆγμα
- ῥῆγμα (rhêgma)(medicine) a break in a bone or cartilage
Arabic كَسْر, اِنْكِسَار
- كَسْر (kasr)act of breaking, or something broken
- اِنْكِسَار (inkisār)act of breaking, or something broken
- كَسْر (kasr)(medicine) a break in a bone or cartilage
- يكسرbreak
- ينكسرbreak
Bengali ভঙ্গ, অস্থিভঙ্গ
- ভঙ্গ (bhoṅgo)(medicine) a break in a bone or cartilage
- অস্থিভঙ্গ (osthibhoṅgo)(medicine) a break in a bone or cartilage
Bulgarian счу́пване, фракту́ра
- счу́пване (sčúpvane)act of breaking, or something broken
- фракту́ра (fraktúra)act of breaking, or something broken
- счу́пване (sčúpvane)(medicine) a break in a bone or cartilage
- фракту́ра (fraktúra)(medicine) a break in a bone or cartilage
- цепнатина́ (cepnatiná)(geology) fault
- лом (lom)(geology) fault
- чупя (čupja)break
- троша (troša)break
Catalan fractura, fracturar
- fracturaact of breaking, or something broken
- fracturarbreak
Chinese Cantonese 骨折
- 骨折 (gwat¹ zit³)(medicine) a break in a bone or cartilage
Chinese Mandarin 骨折
- 骨折 (gǔzhé)(medicine) a break in a bone or cartilage
Czech zlomenina, zlomenina
- zlomeninaact of breaking, or something broken
- zlomenina(medicine) a break in a bone or cartilage
Danish brud, fraktur
- brudact of breaking, or something broken
- frakturact of breaking, or something broken
- fraktur(medicine) a break in a bone or cartilage
- knoglebrud(medicine) a break in a bone or cartilage
- brækkebreak
- sprængebreak
- sprængesbreak
Dutch breuk, fractuur
- breukact of breaking, or something broken
- fractuuract of breaking, or something broken
- botbreuk(medicine) a break in a bone or cartilage
- breuk(geology) fault
Esperanto rompo, frakturo
- rompoact of breaking, or something broken
- frakturoact of breaking, or something broken
- faŭlto(geology) fault
- rompibreak
- rompiĝibreak
Estonian murd, luumurd
- murd(medicine) a break in a bone or cartilage
- luumurd(medicine) a break in a bone or cartilage
Finnish murtuma, särö
- murtumaact of breaking, or something broken
- säröact of breaking, or something broken
- murtuminenact of breaking, or something broken
- murtuma(medicine) a break in a bone or cartilage
- murros(geology) fault
- haljetabreak
- murtuabreak
- rikkoabreak
- murtaabreak
- hajottaabreak
- särkeäbreak
French fracture, fracture
- fractureact of breaking, or something broken
- fracture(medicine) a break in a bone or cartilage
- fracturerbreak
German Knochenbruch, Bruch
- Knochenbruchact of breaking, or something broken
- Bruchact of breaking, or something broken
- Frakturact of breaking, or something broken
- Knochenbruch(medicine) a break in a bone or cartilage
- Fraktur(medicine) a break in a bone or cartilage
- Verwerfung(geology) fault
- brechenbreak
Greek κάταγμα, θλάση
- κάταγμα (kátagma)act of breaking, or something broken
- θλάση (thlási)act of breaking, or something broken
- κάταγμα (kátagma)(medicine) a break in a bone or cartilage
- θραύση (thráfsi)(geology) fault
- σπάσιμο (spásimo)(geology) fault
- θραύω (thrávo)break
- σπάω (spáo)break
Hebrew שֶׁבֶר
- שֶׁבֶר (shéver)(medicine) a break in a bone or cartilage
Hindi अस्थिभंग, शिकस्त
- अस्थिभंग (asthibhaṅg)(medicine) a break in a bone or cartilage
- शिकस्त (śikast)(medicine) a break in a bone or cartilage
Hungarian törés, csonttörés
- törés(medicine) a break in a bone or cartilage
- csonttörés(medicine) a break in a bone or cartilage
Icelandic brot, beinbrot
- brot(medicine) a break in a bone or cartilage
- beinbrot(medicine) a break in a bone or cartilage
Indonesian fraktur
- fraktur(medicine) a break in a bone or cartilage
Irish briseadh
- briseadh(medicine) a break in a bone or cartilage
Italian frattura, frattura
- fratturaact of breaking, or something broken
- frattura(medicine) a break in a bone or cartilage
Japanese 骨折
- 骨折 (kossetsu)(medicine) a break in a bone or cartilage
Korean 골절, 부러지다
- 골절 (goljeol)(medicine) a break in a bone or cartilage
- 부러지다 (bureojida)break
Latin frāctūra, frāctūra
- frāctūraact of breaking, or something broken
- frāctūra(medicine) a break in a bone or cartilage
Latvian lūzums
- lūzums(medicine) a break in a bone or cartilage
Lithuanian lūžis
- lūžis(medicine) a break in a bone or cartilage
Malay fraktur, patah tulang
- fraktur(medicine) a break in a bone or cartilage
- patah tulang(medicine) a break in a bone or cartilage
Norwegian Bokmål fraktur, beinbrudd
- frakturact of breaking, or something broken
- beinbrudd(medicine) a break in a bone or cartilage
Polish złamanie, pęknięcie
- złamanieact of breaking, or something broken
- pęknięcieact of breaking, or something broken
- złamanie(medicine) a break in a bone or cartilage
Portuguese fratura, fratura
- fraturaact of breaking, or something broken
- fratura(medicine) a break in a bone or cartilage
- falha(geology) fault
- fraturarbreak
Romanian fractură, fracturare
- fracturăact of breaking, or something broken
- fracturareact of breaking, or something broken
- rupereact of breaking, or something broken
- fractură(medicine) a break in a bone or cartilage
- fracturabreak
Russian перело́м, перело́м
- перело́м (perelóm)act of breaking, or something broken
- перело́м (perelóm)(medicine) a break in a bone or cartilage
- разло́м (razlóm)(geology) fault
- лома́ть (lomátʹ)break
- слома́ть (slomátʹ)break
- лома́ться (lomátʹsja)break
- слома́ться (slomátʹsja)break
Slovak zlomenina, zlomenina
- zlomeninaact of breaking, or something broken
- zlomenina(medicine) a break in a bone or cartilage
Spanish fractura, fractura
- fracturaact of breaking, or something broken
- fractura(medicine) a break in a bone or cartilage
- fracturarbreak
Swedish brott, benbrott
- brottact of breaking, or something broken
- benbrott(medicine) a break in a bone or cartilage
- fraktur(medicine) a break in a bone or cartilage
Tamil முறிவு, முறிவு
- முறிவு (muṟivu)act of breaking, or something broken
- முறிவு (muṟivu)(medicine) a break in a bone or cartilage
- பிளவு (piḷavu)(geology) fault
- பிளப்பு (piḷappu)(geology) fault
Thai กระดูกหัก
- กระดูกหัก (grà-dùuk-hàk)(medicine) a break in a bone or cartilage
Turkish kırık, kırık
- kırıkact of breaking, or something broken
- kırık(medicine) a break in a bone or cartilage
- çıkık(medicine) a break in a bone or cartilage
- sınık(medicine) a break in a bone or cartilage
Ukrainian перело́м, перело́м
- перело́м (perelóm)act of breaking, or something broken
- перело́м (perelóm)(medicine) a break in a bone or cartilage
- лама́ти (lamáty)break
- злама́ти (zlamáty)break
- лама́тися (lamátysja)break
- злама́тися (zlamátysja)break
Urdu شِکَسْت
- شِکَسْت (śikast)(medicine) a break in a bone or cartilage
Vietnamese gãy xương
- gãy xương(medicine) a break in a bone or cartilage
Welsh toriad, toriad
- toriadact of breaking, or something broken
- toriad(medicine) a break in a bone or cartilage
- toriad(geology) fault
- gorthoriant(geology) fault
- torribreak
Cite this entry
APA
fracture. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/fracture
MLA
“fracture.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/fracture. Accessed November 3, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “fracture,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/fracture.
Source: fracture on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.