When it’s something intangible, it’s probably disorganized or lacking unity in some way. When the thing is a physical object, it’s probably broken into pieces. When something is fragmented, it’s not entirely whole or organized. It ultimately comes from the Latin fragmentum, meaning “a broken piece,” from the verb frangere, meaning “to break.” The word fragile also comes from frangere. The first records of the word fragmented as an adjective come from around the early 1800s. The related adjective fragmentary means something different: consisting of or reduced to fragments-disconnected or incomplete, as in fragmentary evidence.Įxample: My attention becomes fragmented when I’m working on too many projects. The verb fragmentize can mean the same thing as the verb sense of fragment, and the adjective fragmentized is a synonym of fragmented. This sense of the word often implies that the thing described as fragmented is broken or unhealthy in some way. For example, a fragmented society is one in which there is an extreme lack of unity among different groups. Such an empire could be described as fragmented.įragmented is perhaps most often applied to abstract or intangible things like this, in which case it usually means disorganized or disunified in some way.

Such things can be described as fragmented.Īs a verb, fragment can mean to break into pieces or disintegrate, as in The empire fragmented into multiple states after the emperor’s death. Fragmented is an adjective that describes things that have been reduced or divided into fragments-pieces that have been broken off of or detached from the whole.įragment most commonly refers to a part that has broken off rather than one that has been separated gently or intentionally, like fragments of a broken vase or a broken bone.

The Fragmented Six by elmwynn