fraction
Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
fraction /ˈfrakʃ(ə)n/
▶noun
- 1 a numerical quantity that is not a whole number (e.g.
1/ 2
- 2 a small or tiny part, amount, or proportion.
■ a dissenting group within a larger one.
- 3 Chemistry each of the portions into which a mixture may be separated according to a physical property such as boiling point or solubility.
- 4 (usu. the Fraction) (in the Christian Church) the breaking of the Eucharistic bread.
– origin ME: via OFr. from eccles. L. fractio(n-) ‘breaking (bread)’, from L. frangere ‘to break’.
'fraction' also found in these Oxford entries:
cancel
- decimal
- decimal point
- denominator
- diesel
- feedback
- fractional
- fractious
- globulin
- harmonic
- harmonic series
- improper fraction
- mixed number
- numerator
- proper fraction
- recurring decimal
- reduce
- repetend
- Student's t-test
- time signature
- twenty-twenty
- vulgar fraction
