fragmented
adjective
frag·ment·ed
ˈfrag-ˌmen-təd 
1
: broken or separated into distinct parts
Another fragmented language group is the Austroasiatic family, whose most widely spoken languages are Vietnamese and Cambodian.—
Jared Diamond
Jared DiamondThe reality seems to be that the global audience for movies has become increasingly diverse and fragmented, which runs against Hollywood's obsession with finding that magic common denominator.—Peter Bart
Peter Bart2
computing
: having related or associated pieces of stored data disorganized in a way that makes them more difficult to access
Fragmented files require much more work to read than contiguous files, because to do so DOS must chase down each sector, possibly moving the disk head back and forth many times. Each of these … slows the task at hand and results in additional wear and tear on your hard disk.—Brett Glass
Brett GlassYou probably won't notice a marked performance boost unless your hard drive is extremely fragmented.—Doug Stanley
Doug StanleyExamples of fragmented in a Sentence
restoring the fragmented Roman sculpture was like putting together a jigsaw puzzle
Recent Examples on the Web
From Fragmentation To Clarity Before activation and measurement can happen, organizations must overcome the most common structural barrier: fragmented data systems.
—Motasem El Bawab, Forbes.com, 19 May 2025
Poling’s extensive experience enabled him to observe the leadership development landscape, noticing it’s still dominated by fragmented models.
—Wyles Daniel, USA Today, 17 May 2025
As with many lyrical coming-of-age films (like All Dirt Road Taste of Salt, for example), Renoir rewards patience with fragmented narratives and surrealist touches.
—Lovia Gyarkye, HollywoodReporter, 17 May 2025
There was a touch of strip tease to the prose, too — a female form in fragmented parts, always fragile and clean.
—Sarah Aziza, People.com, 14 May 2025
See All Example Sentences for fragmented
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Motasem El Bawab, Forbes.com, 19 May 2025
Poling’s extensive experience enabled him to observe the leadership development landscape, noticing it’s still dominated by fragmented models.
—Wyles Daniel, USA Today, 17 May 2025
As with many lyrical coming-of-age films (like All Dirt Road Taste of Salt, for example), Renoir rewards patience with fragmented narratives and surrealist touches.
—Lovia Gyarkye, HollywoodReporter, 17 May 2025
There was a touch of strip tease to the prose, too — a female form in fragmented parts, always fragile and clean.
—Sarah Aziza, People.com, 14 May 2025
See All Example Sentences for fragmented
Cite this Entry
“Fragmented.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/fragmented. Accessed 1 Jun. 2025.
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