Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Of, relating to, or constituting a fraction.
  • adjective Very small; insignificant.
  • adjective Being in fractions or pieces.
  • adjective Separated by fractionation; fractionated.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Pertaining to fractions; comprising a part or the parts of a unit; constituting a fraction: as, fractional numbers.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective Of or pertaining to fractions or a fraction; constituting a fraction.
  • adjective Relatively small; inconsiderable; insignificant.
  • adjective (Chem.) a process of gradual and approximate purification and separation, by means of repeated solution and crystallization therefrom.
  • adjective small coin, or paper notes, in circulation, of less value than the monetary unit.
  • adjective (Chem.) a process of distillation so conducted that a mixture of liquids, differing considerably from each other in their boiling points, can be separated into its constituents.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective Pertaining to a fraction.
  • adjective Divided; fragmentary; incomplete.
  • adjective Very small; minute.
  • adjective chemistry Relating to a process or product of fractional distillation.
  • noun grammar An expression of a fractional number.
  • noun Partial ownership of a property, such as real estate or a chartered airplane, such that each partial owner has use of the property for only a portion of the time.
  • noun chemistry Relating to a fraction in a material distillation or separation process.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective constituting or comprising a part or fraction of a possible whole or entirety

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From fraction +‎ -al.

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Examples

  • Without a LoLR, any bank that engages in fractional reserve banking is always liable to a bank-run.

    Matthew Yglesias » Macro Rap 2010

  • I also suppose it would be sorta ok if private banks wanted to engage in fractional reserve banking but only if there was a big notice in BIG BIG letters in the written contract explaining the risks.

    Matthew Yglesias » Is The Fed Stifling Recovery? 2010

  • ID guy insists that Shannon Information doesn't deal in fractional bits, even when it was pointed out that Shannon said "a decimal digit is about 3 1/3 bits."

    A New Book 2010

  • Eagles, Maples, etc in fractional sizes cost to damn much.

    Yes we have no silver today- revisited Canadian silver bug/Green Assassin Brigade 2008

  • Eagles, Maples, etc in fractional sizes cost to damn much.

    Archive 2008-07-20 Canadian silver bug/Green Assassin Brigade 2008

  • The use of water bathing in fractional crystallization.

    Trafficking Materials and Gendered Experimental Practices: Radium Research in Early 20th Century Vienna 2007

  • Its called "fractional reserve banking" which originated from the Federal Reserve..who are the masters of loaning 10 times more money then they actually have in their reserves!

    msnbc.com: Top msnbc.com headlines 2011

  • Those fractions are probably the origin of the terms fractional distillation

    Citizendium, the Citizens' Compendium - Recent changes [en] 2009

  • Industry studies have shown that over the long term fractional ownership may be cheaper than renting after comparing the cost of vacationing to the cost of owning a fractional vacation residence, particularly in a highly desirable resort area.

    PRWeb 2009

  • What we know as fractional reserve banking equates to letting banks keep a tiny fraction of their deposits (their depositors 'money, one should perhaps add) in order to lend out the remainder for profit (theirs, not the depositors', one should perhaps add).

    The price of everything 2009

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