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 Stanley
Examples of fragmented in a Sentence
restoring the fragmented Roman sculpture was like putting together a jigsaw puzzle
Recent Examples on the Web
The nation’s fragmented health care system complicates detection of very rare side effects, a process that depends on an analysis of huge amounts of data.
—Apoorva Mandavilli, New York Times, 3 May 2024
But that would complicate life for the consumer looking for the next tip-off in an already fragmented media environment.
—Stephen Battaglio, Los Angeles Times, 3 May 2024
And most restaurants are, well, pretty small parts of a really large, really fragmented marketplace.
—Allie Garfinkle, Fortune, 2 May 2024
Senators Scott Wiener and Aisha Wahab have introduced The Connect Bay Area Act (SB 1031), which would authorize a regional ballot measure for sustainable transportation funding and introduce governance reforms to integrate fragmented systems.
—Ian Griffiths, The Mercury News, 20 Apr. 2024
As advertisers seek to navigate the crowded and fragmented media landscape, podcast advertising stands out as a beacon of effectiveness, powered by a deep understanding of how to capture and retain the highly valued and sought after resource of human attention.
—Curt Steinhorst, Forbes, 29 Mar. 2024
Experts say urgent reforms are needed for America’s underfunded, fragmented and difficult-to-access mental health system.
—Hannah Allam, Washington Post, 26 Feb. 2024
The travel insurance industry is extremely fragmented, with several independent parties responsible for technology, underwriting, product creation, customer service, claims, and emergency assistance.
—Christopher Elliott, Forbes, 30 Mar. 2024
But by then the AfD may well prove to be Germany’s second-biggest party, and the party system may be so fragmented that unstable and ineffective three-party coalitions, such as the one Scholz is leading today, may be the country’s only option.
—Joseph De Weck, The Atlantic, 20 Mar. 2024
Apoorva Mandavilli, New York Times, 3 May 2024
But that would complicate life for the consumer looking for the next tip-off in an already fragmented media environment.
—Stephen Battaglio, Los Angeles Times, 3 May 2024
And most restaurants are, well, pretty small parts of a really large, really fragmented marketplace.
—Allie Garfinkle, Fortune, 2 May 2024
Senators Scott Wiener and Aisha Wahab have introduced The Connect Bay Area Act (SB 1031), which would authorize a regional ballot measure for sustainable transportation funding and introduce governance reforms to integrate fragmented systems.
—Ian Griffiths, The Mercury News, 20 Apr. 2024
As advertisers seek to navigate the crowded and fragmented media landscape, podcast advertising stands out as a beacon of effectiveness, powered by a deep understanding of how to capture and retain the highly valued and sought after resource of human attention.
—Curt Steinhorst, Forbes, 29 Mar. 2024
Experts say urgent reforms are needed for America’s underfunded, fragmented and difficult-to-access mental health system.
—Hannah Allam, Washington Post, 26 Feb. 2024
The travel insurance industry is extremely fragmented, with several independent parties responsible for technology, underwriting, product creation, customer service, claims, and emergency assistance.
—Christopher Elliott, Forbes, 30 Mar. 2024
But by then the AfD may well prove to be Germany’s second-biggest party, and the party system may be so fragmented that unstable and ineffective three-party coalitions, such as the one Scholz is leading today, may be the country’s only option.
—Joseph De Weck, The Atlantic, 20 Mar. 2024
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'fragmented.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Dictionary Entries Near fragmented
Cite this Entry
“Fragmented.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/fragmented. Accessed 10 May. 2024.
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