(someone) fractured (a bone)

The word "fracture" means "break a little bit".

When a bone is "fractured", it technically means that it is broken. Doctors have terms for lots of different kinds of fractures, including things like a "compound fracture", where the bone pushes out of the skin.

However, in everyday conversation, people mostly use the word "fracture" to describe a bone that's just a little bit broken. If pieces of the bone are completely disconnected, we say that it "broke":

I fractured my collar bone a little bit.

She broke her arm.

Two of my ribs are broken.

You can use the word "fracture" as a noun:

There's a small fracture in the knuckle of your right ring finger.

Or as an adjective:

It's fractured.

Or as a verb:

I fractured one of the bones in my foot.

This phrase appears in these lessons: