fragment Copy link Outline I. Lit.1. fragmentum2. fragmen, ĭnis, n. (poet. or late)3. fractūra (late)II. Fig. • fragment: I. Lit.: a broken piece of something: 1. fragmentum: f.s of tiles (= broken tiles), tegularum fr., Liv. 34, 39, ad fin.: a f. of stone, fr. lapidis, Cic. N. D. 2, 32, 82. 2. fragmen, ĭnis, n. (poet. or late): the f.s of the oars (= broken oars), fr. remorum, Virg. Aen. 10, 305: Suet. 3. fractūra (late): Plin. 33, 4, 21 § 71 (al. fractariis). II. Fig.: a mutilated portion of a literary work: *fragmentum: so used by editors in general. Phr.: only a few f.s of Ennius have been handed down to us, *Ennii nonnisi pauca quaedam ac mutila exstant (scripta).