A fragment is a piece broken off from something larger. When you drop a glass and it shatters, the scattered pieces on the floor are fragments. Archaeologists dig up pottery fragments from ancient civilizations, trying to understand how people lived thousands of years ago by studying these broken pieces.

The word often suggests that something once whole has been damaged or divided. A fragment of a story might be all that survives from an old manuscript, leaving historians wondering about the missing parts. You might overhear a fragment of a conversation as someone walks past, catching only a few words instead of understanding the full discussion.

In writing, fragment has a specific meaning. A sentence fragment is an incomplete sentence, like “Running down the street” or “After the game ended.” These fragments leave you hanging because they don't express a complete thought. Your teacher might mark these on your papers because good writing usually needs complete sentences (though writers sometimes use fragments on purpose for style or emphasis).

Scientists also use fragment as a verb: DNA can fragment into smaller pieces during experiments. When you fragment your time by switching between too many activities, you break your focus into smaller pieces instead of concentrating on one task.