partial
Noun pluralpartials
Pluralpartials
- 1Including only some of a thing, not all of it.
Like eating only half of your sandwich and saving the rest.
We only got a partial refund after the trip was canceled.
The team made partial progress before running out of time.
Similarincomplete, limited, fragmentary
Note
- 2Unfairly favoring one person or side instead of being fair to everyone.
Like a referee who cheers for only one team.
The students complained that the referee was partial to the home team.
A good judge must never be partial.
Similarbiased, prejudiced, unfair, one-sided
Oppositeimpartial
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- 3Liking something a lot, so you choose it over other things.
Like always picking your favorite ice cream flavor first.
I'm rather partial to dark chocolate.
She's always been partial to old jazz records.
Similarfond
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- 4A set of false teeth that fills in only some missing teeth, not all of them.
Like a puzzle piece that fills just one empty spot.
The dentist fitted her with a partial to fill the gap.
He soaked his partial in a glass of water overnight.
Note
- 5Relating to a kind of math that measures change in one variable while the others stay the same.
Like checking how one thing changes while everything else stays still.
We learned how to find a partial derivative in class today.
The partial differential describes how heat spreads over time.
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- 6A math result showing how a function changes when only one of its variables changes.
Like measuring how steep a hill is if you only walk east.
The student computed the partial with respect to x.
Each partial tells you how the surface tilts in one direction.
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- 7One of the simple sound waves that combine to make a fuller musical note.
Like the different threads woven together to make one colored cloth.
Each partial adds a little color to the sound of the violin.
The higher partials fade away quickly after the string is plucked.
Similarovertone
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- 8A fingerprint mark that shows only part of the full pattern.
Like seeing only one corner of a torn photo.
The lab found only a partial on the broken glass.
A partial isn't always enough to identify someone.
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- 9A way of doing an exercise using only part of the full movement.
Like only opening a door halfway instead of all the way.
He finished the set with a few partials when his arms got tired.
Doing a partial lets you keep going after full reps become too hard.
Note
- 10A small reusable piece of a web template, with code, that you can drop into other pages.
Like a stamp you can press onto many letters instead of writing the same thing each time.
The header is saved as a partial and used on every page.
We moved the footer into a partial to avoid repeating the code.
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- 11Describing a property that is true only if a program actually finishes running.
Like a promise that says 'if I finish the race, I'll win,' without saying you will finish.
The proof showed only partial correctness, not that the loop always stops.
A partial guarantee means the answer is right if the program finishes.
Oppositetotal
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- 12Describing a smaller unit that forms part of a larger, combined plant structure.
Like one small branch that is part of a much bigger tree.
Each partial umbel holds a small cluster of tiny flowers.
The big flower head is built from many partial clusters.
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- 13A furry-character costume that covers only some of the body, not all of it.
Like wearing just a mask and gloves instead of a whole costume.
She wore a partial to the convention because it's cooler than a full suit.
His partial includes a head, paws, and a tail.
Note
- 14Describing a puzzle clue that has a word-trick part but no meaning part.
Like a riddle that gives the trick but never tells you what the answer means.
The setter wrote a partial clue with only a hidden word trick.
A partial clue can feel unfair because it skips the meaning part.
Note
- 15To find how one thing affects another after removing the effects of other things.
The study's authors partial out age, so older and younger people can be compared fairly.
Statisticians partial age out of each model to isolate the main predictor.
Note
Showing meanings only.
Practice
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Origin
It comes from Latin "pars," meaning "part." A later Latin word meant "belonging to a part."