fractional, a.
(ˈfrækʃənəl)
[f. fraction + -al1.]
a. Of, pertaining to, or dealing with a fraction or fractions; comprising or constituting a fraction; of the nature of a fraction. Hence, incomplete, partial, insignificant. fractional currency (see quot.). fractional distillation: see distillation 3. fractional note (N. Amer.), a note in fractional currency. fractional section = fraction n. 6.
| 1675 Ogilby Brit. Pref., Not regarding the Fractional Parts of a Mile. a 1806 Fox Speech, Proc. Ld. Melville Sp. 1815 VI. 584 The right honourable gentleman..has amused the House with an account of fractional sums of 8s. 6d., 14s., and 2s. 1815 D. Drake Cincinnati 129 Cincinnati is built upon one entire and two fractional sections. 1828 D'Israeli Chas. I, II. ii. 32 At length we are surprised that these fractional disputes close into one mighty..enmity. 1858 Mill Liberty iv. (1865) 45/1 The interest which society has in him individually..is fractional. 1861 Goschen For. Exch. 102 Realizing a fractional profit for the convenience which they afford. 1863 Stat. at Large U.S.A. (1864) XII. 711 In lieu of postage and revenue stamps for fractional currency, and of fractional notes, commonly called postage currency,..the Secretary of the Treasury may issue fractional notes of like amounts in such form as he may deem expedient. 1878 Congress. Rec. 29 Jan. 638/2 [Silver] is not like our fractional notes, a promise to pay. It is payment. Ibid. 4 Feb. 727/2 The fractional currency had become so ragged and so dirty that people were willing to surrender it for almost anything. 1879 Webster, Supp., Fractional currency, small coin, or paper notes, in circulation, of less value than the monetary unit. 1892 Daily News 20 Dec. 7/3 Messrs. B. decline to accept Messrs. M.'s fractional certificates in exchange for bonds. 1903 R. Stiles 4 Yrs. under Marse Robert 63 In the South during the war banks, municipalities, companies, and.. individuals issued fractional notes or shin plasters which passed as currency supplementary to the Treasury notes issued by the Confederate Government. 1946 J. T. Adams Album Amer. Hist. III. 135 Later (July, 1862) Congress legalized small change notes by providing for the issuance of fractional currency in denominations of 3, 5, 10, 15, 25 and 50 cents. |
b. Chem. Designating a process in which different fractions of a mixture are separated in consequence of their differing physical properties. So fractional crystallization, fractional distillation (see distillation 3), fractional precipitation, etc.
| 1857 W. A. Miller Elem. Chem. III. i. 9 This process of fractional distillation is well adapted to the separation of liquids. 1886 Chem. News 10 Sept. 131/1 Fractional crystallisation has yielded new results with didymium. Ibid., Working with the samarskite earths, fractional precipitation with oxalic acid separates first erbia, holmia, and thulia, then terbia, and lastly yttria. 1897 G. F. Becker in Amer. Jrnl. Sci. CLIV. 257 (heading) Fractional crystallization of rocks. Ibid. 258 The process..usually known as fractional crystallization..has been employed in the purification of compounds ever since chemistry was pursued. 1949 Alexander & Johnson Colloid Sci. II. xxvii. 797 Fractional solution may also be employed, a series of solvents of increasing solvent power being used to extract the unfractionated polymer. 1950 N. V. Sidgwick Chem. Elements I. 456 Fractional precipitation of the hydroxides is useful in isolating the very weakly basic Sc(OH)3 or the strongly basic La(OH)3. 1960 Turner & Verhoogen Ign. & Metamorph. Petrol. (ed. 2) iv. 85 The nature of the liquid fraction of a crystallizing magma at a given moment depends on..the degree to which fractional crystallization has already been effective. 1966 McGraw-Hill Encycl. Sci. & Technol. XI. 118 Fractional distillation to remove iron, lead, and cadmium from crude zinc. 1968 Coulson & Richardson Chem. Engin. (ed. 2) II. xiv. 577 It is often possible to separate a mixture of two soluble salts by fractional crystallization. |
c. In Communist use: of, or pertaining to, a fraction (sense 8). Hence ˈfractionalism, the doctrine or policy of a fraction; an instance of deviating from the official line of the Communist Party; ˈfractionalist, an adherent or supporter of fractionalism; also attrib. or as adj. Also (all forms) transf. Cf. fractionism, -ist (s.v. fraction n. 8).
| 1929 Communist Party Gt. Brit.: New Line 77 Greater attention must be given to..the strengthening of all fractional activities within the trade unions. 1941 Koestler Scum 157 The abstentionisme of the Chamber was intended to be a subtle fractional device; in fact it was a declaration of irresponsibility. 1945 ― Yogi & Commissar 203 Behind the fa{cced}ade of Popular-Front Committees..the air was thick with Comintern-intrigue and fractional conspiracy. 1950 E. H. Carr Bolshevik Rev. I. viii. 202 The criticism of individuals or even of groups would be tolerated within the party, but the opposition must not organize: that would be to commit the sin of ‘fractionalism’. 1953 Newsweek 2 Mar. 38/3 Two months ago he was finally ousted from the French Communist Party as a ‘fractionalist’. 1959 Oxf. Mail 28 Jan. 1/7 Mr. Podgorny..said the ‘fractional activity’ of the group had been exposed. 1959 Times 29 Jan. 8/3 The anti-party group members were accused of ‘fractionalism’. 1960 Spectator 19 Feb. 241 These last he dismissed as ‘fractionalist’ because, he claimed, they subordinated the national interest to that of fractions of the nation in coalition. |
Hence ˈfractionally adv., in a fractional manner or degree; by a fraction or fractions; in Chem., so as to separate into fractions.
| 1871 Jrnl. Chem. Soc. XXIV. 405 Bromotetracodeine is conveniently obtained as hydrobromide by..dissolving the residue in the smallest possible quantity of weak hydrobromic acid, and fractionally precipitating by cautious addition of stronger acid. 1883 Daily News 7 Nov. 4/7 American prices were firm, but foreign Government stocks receded fractionally. 1888 Ibid. 4 Dec. 7/2 A surplus, applied to augment that dividend fractionally. 1904 F. Soddy Radio-Activity 17 If the active barium chloride was fractionally crystallised, the activity tended to concentrate in the least soluble fraction. 1954 Reilly & Rae Physico-Chem. Methods (ed. 5) II. 253 Intimate mixtures are fractionally disintegrated. |