fragmentation

The breaking of something into smaller pieces or separate parts.

• The report describes the fragmentation of society.
• Roads have increased habitat fragmentation in this region.
• Political fragmentation made it hard to form a government.

How to use it: fragmentation of something (The fragmentation of the forest threatens wildlife.)

Similar words: breaking up, disintegration

Opposites: integration, unification

Common phrases: social fragmentation, habitat fragmentation, fragmentation of something

The spreading of parts of a computer file across different places on a disk.

• File fragmentation slowed the old computer.
• The tool checks the drive for fragmentation.
• Regular maintenance reduced fragmentation on the hard disk.

Common phrases: disk fragmentation, file fragmentation, reduce fragmentation

The scattering of pieces from a bomb when it explodes.

• The bomb caused severe fragmentation injuries.
• The casing controls fragmentation when the grenade explodes.
• Engineers measured the fragmentation produced by the shell.

Common phrases: bomb fragmentation, fragmentation grenade, fragmentation injuries

The breaking of unstable, electrically charged molecules into smaller parts during chemical analysis.

• The spectrum shows extensive fragmentation.
• Higher energy increased fragmentation of the molecular ions.
• The fragmentation pattern helped identify the compound.

Similar words: dissociation

Common phrases: ion fragmentation, molecular fragmentation, fragmentation pattern