Meaning & use
bone fragment
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Meanings
nouncountable
A small piece of bone that has broken off from a larger bone.
Grammar: Countable: 'a bone fragment', 'bone fragments'. Often used in the plural when talking about many pieces.
Patterns
- a bone fragment from something
- remove a bone fragment
- small bone fragments
The X-ray showed a small bone fragment near the joint.
Surgeons removed several bone fragments after the accident.
Archaeologists found bone fragments at the ancient site.
nouncountabletechnical
A piece of bone discovered in soil, often studied to learn about the past.
Grammar: Countable; common in archaeology and paleontology.
Patterns
- identify a bone fragment
- bone fragments from an animal
The team identified the bone fragment as part of a dinosaur rib.
Bone fragments can tell us a lot about ancient diets.
Word forms
| plural | bone fragments |
|---|
Common combinations
- small bone fragment
- A small bone fragment was lodged in the wound.
- remove bone fragments
- The surgeon had to remove bone fragments from the knee.
- bone fragment from
- They found a bone fragment from a large mammal.
- loose bone fragment
- A loose bone fragment can cause pain when you move.
Synonyms and how they differ
- bone chip
- A very small bone fragment, often used in medical contexts; 'bone chip' is more informal.
- piece of bone
- A general, everyday phrase; 'bone fragment' is more technical and often implies it broke off.
Word family
- fragment noun
- A small piece broken from something larger.
- fragmentary adjective
- Consisting of small, disconnected pieces.
Commonly confused: bone fragment or bone fracture?
bone fragment vs bone fracture
A fracture is a crack or break in a bone, while a bone fragment is a piece that has broken off.
Practice
After the fall, the doctor found a bone fragment ___ her wrist.
Choose one answer.
We say a fragment is 'in' a part of the body when it is inside. 'On' would mean on the surface, which is not typical for a fragment inside the wrist.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “bone fragment”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.