n.
- a crack or break, especially in a bone or a rock stratum.
▸the cracking or breaking of a hard object or material.
▸the shape of the surface formed by a freshly broken rock or mineral.
- Phonetics the replacement of a simple vowel by a diphthong owing to the influence of a following sound, typically a consonant.
v.
break or cause to break.
▸(of a group) break up or fragment.
Etymology
ME: from Fr., or from L. fractura, from frangere ‘to break’.