a break or crack in something hard, especially a bone or rock.
The X-ray revealed a serious fracture in the patient's leg bone.
Earthquakes can cause large fractures in the ground.
✦ From Middle English, borrowed from Old French fracture, from Latin fractūra (“a breach, break, cleft”), from fractus, past participle of frangere (“to break”).
to break or cause to break suddenly and completely, typically with a sharp crack.
The thin ice fractured under the weight of the car.
Extreme cold can cause metal pipes to fracture.
