Category:Fracture

Frac"ture, n. Etym: [L. fractura, fr. frangere, fractum, to break: cf. F. fracture. See Fraction.]

1. The act of breaking or snapping asunder; rupture; breach.

2. (Surg.)

Defn: The breaking of a bone.

3. (Min.)

Defn: The texture of a freshly broken surface; as, a compact fracture; an even, hackly, or conchoidal fracture. Comminuted fracture (Surg.), a fracture in which the bone is broken into several parts. -- Complicated fracture (Surg.), a fracture of the bone combined with the lesion of some artery, nervous trunk, or joint. -- Compound fracture (Surg.), a fracture in which there is an open wound from the surface down to the fracture. -- Simple fracture (Surg.), a fracture in which the bone only is ruptured. It does not communicate with the surface by an open wound.

Syn. -- Fracture, Rupture. These words denote different kinds of breaking, according to the objects to which they are applied. Fracture is applied to hard substances; as, the fracture of a bone. Rupture is oftener applied to soft substances; as, the rupture of a blood vessel. It is also used figuratively. "To be an enemy and once to have been a friend, does it not embitter the rupture" South.

fracture Frac"ture, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Fractured (#; 135); p. pr. & vb. n.. Fracturing.] Etym: [Cf. F. fracturer.]

Defn: To cause a fracture or fractures in; to break; to burst asunder; to crack; to separate the continuous parts of; as, to fracture a bone; to fracture the skull.