Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Fracture \Frac"ture\ (?; 135), n. [L. fractura, fr. frangere, fractum, to break: cf. F. fracture. See Fraction.]
The act of breaking or snapping asunder; rupture; breach.
(Surg.) The breaking of a bone.
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(Min.) The texture of a freshly broken surface; as, a compact fracture; an even, hackly, or conchoidal fracture.
Comminuted fracture (Surg.), a fracture in which the bone is broken into several parts.
Complicated fracture (Surg.), a fracture of the bone combined with the lesion of some artery, nervous trunk, or joint.
Compound fracture (Surg.), a fracture in which there is an open wound from the surface down to the fracture.
Simple fracture (Surg.), a fracture in which the bone only is ruptured. It does not communicate with the surface by an open wound.
Syn: Fracture, Rupture.
Usage: These words denote different kinds of breaking, according to the objects to which they are applied. Fracture is applied to hard substances; as, the fracture of a bone. Rupture is oftener applied to soft substances; as, the rupture of a blood vessel. It is also used figuratively. ``To be an enemy and once to have been a friend, does it not embitter the rupture?''
--South.
WordNet
n. an uncomplicated fracture in which the broken bones to not pierce the skin [syn: closed fracture]
Usage examples of "simple fracture".
It was a simple fracture of the lower tibia, fortunately, and while undoubtedly painfill, it seemed to be no great threat to his health.
A simple fracture of the forearm had reformed the broker's morals, that and the cheerful warning that next time she would send Two-knife around to start with his kneecaps and work upward.
Mr Floris's two assistants and three patients were sitting on chests round the midshipmen's table, where the fourth patient, a simple fracture of the femur, had just been splinted and bandaged: he was telling them how in his haste he had left the rammer in his gun.
He has an aggravated excision of the left ear, what looks to be a simple fracture of the ulna, pharyngeal trauma, and multiple abrasions and contusions.
The injury was a simple fracture of the left humerus, easily reduced even by amateur medics.