fractioned

1. 1
   verb

   Simple past and past participle of fraction.

   The refinery fractioned the crude oil before sending it on for processing.

   The blood sample was fractioned to isolate each protein component.

   Note

   A regular -ed form of a verb that always takes an object. Because something is fractioned by someone, the passive (the sample was fractioned) is as natural as the active. The verb covers two uses: breaking a thing into parts in general, and the laboratory sense of fractionate. Before a noun, the same spelling becomes the adjective for separated mixtures.

2. 2
   adjective

   Separated into distinct component parts through fractionation.

   The fractioned crude yields products ranging from gasoline to asphalt.

   Researchers compared the fractioned blood with whole, untreated samples.

   Similarseparated, fractionated

   Oppositewhole

   Note

   The participle has settled into an adjective, and it means exactly what fractionated means: a fractioned sample and a fractionated sample are the same thing. Unusually for a technical term, it can be graded. More fractioned and most fractioned are its comparative and superlative forms, available when one sample has been taken further apart than another.

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