Fractured

Fractured is an adjective meaning broken or divided, and is used to describe something that has been physically broken, split, or disrupted, as well as something that appears fragmented or altered by a break. It can refer to bones, materials, or abstract constructs such as relationships, timelines, or systems. The term is common across medicine, geology, engineering, and everyday language.

Etymology trace: fractured comes from the Latin fractus, the past participle of frangere, meaning to break. It reached English via Old French and Middle English, developing broad figurative senses over time.

In medicine, a fracture is a break in a bone or cartilage. Clinically, fractures are often classified as closed (simple) or open (compound), and by pattern such as transverse, oblique, spiral, comminuted, or greenstick. Treatment aims to restore alignment and function, typically through immobilization with a cast or splint, with surgery considered for displaced or unstable fractures. Healing proceeds through stages of inflammation, repair, and remodeling over weeks to months, varying with age, location, and care.

In geology and materials science, fracture refers to a separation or discontinuity within a solid caused by stress exceeding the material’s strength. Fractures can be brittle, producing clean breaks, or ductile, involving plastic deformation. They include fractures, faults, joints, and cleavage planes, and their study encompasses fracture mechanics and the resistance to crack initiation and propagation known as fracture toughness.

Fractured is also used metaphorically to describe disrupted social or institutional cohesion, such as a fractured family or fractured society. The term appears across literature, film, and discourse to convey a sense of fragmentation or rupture.

See also: fracture, bone fracture, fracture toughness, brittle fracture.