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Synonyms
frac·ture (frăḱchər)

[Middle English, from Old French, from Latin frāctūra, from frāctus past participle of frangere, to break.]

noun 

    1. The act or process of breaking.
    2. The condition of having been broken or ruptured: “a sudden and irreparable fracture of the established order” (W. Bruce Lincoln)
  2. A break, rupture, or crack, especially in bone or cartilage.
  3. Mineralogy
    1. The characteristic manner in which a mineral breaks.
    2. The characteristic appearance of the surface of a broken mineral.
  4. Geology A crack or fault in a rock.

verb: -tured, -tur·ing, -tures. 

transitive verb 

    1. To cause to break: The impact fractured a bone.
    2. To undergo a break in (a bone): He fractured his ankle in the fall.
  2. To disrupt or destroy as if by breaking: fractured the delicate balance of power.
  3. To abuse or misuse flagrantly, as by violating rules: ignorant writers who fracture the language.
  4. Slang To cause to laugh heartily: “Jack Benny fractured audiences . . . for more than 50 years” (Newsweek)

intransitive verb 

To undergo a fracture. See synonyms at break