fracture

noun

• 1the cracking or breaking of a hard object or material:ground movements could cause fracture of the pipe
• [count noun] a crack or break in a hard object or material, typically a bone or a rock stratum:a fracture of the left leg
• the physical appearance of a freshly broken rock or mineral, especially as regards the shape of the surface formed: obsidian shows a conchoidal fracture

• 2 Phonetics the replacement of a simple vowel by a diphthong owing to the influence of a following sound, typically a consonant.
• [count noun] a diphthong substituted by fracture.

verb

• break or cause to break: [no object]:the stone has fractured [with object]:ancient magmas fractured by the forces of wind and ice
• [with object] sustain a fracture of (a bone): (as adjective fractured)a fractured skull
• (with reference to a group or organization) split or fragment and become unable to function or exist: [no object]:the movement had fractured without his leadership
• (as adjective fractured) (of speech or a language) faltering and full of mistakes; broken: they’d misinterpreted his fractured English