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partial

[pahr-shuhl]

Example Sentences Origin

adjective

being such in part only; not total or general; incomplete: partial blindness; a partial payment of a debt.

biased or prejudiced in favor of a person, group, side, etc., over another, as in a controversy: a partial witness.

pertaining to or affecting a part.

being a part; component; constituent.

Botany. secondary or subordinate: a partial umbel.

noun

Bridge. part-score.

Acoustics, Music. partial tone.

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Partial is always a great word to know.

So is multicellular. Does it mean:

composed of several cells

organism capable of self-nourishment which uses photosynthesis or chemosynthesis for energy

LEARN MORE UNUSUAL WORDS WITH WORD DYNAMO...

Idiom

partial to, having a liking or preference for; particularly fond of: I'm partial to chocolate cake.

Origin:
1375–1425; late Middle English parcial biased, particular < Middle French < Late Latin partiālis pertaining to a part, equivalent to Latin parti- (stem of pars) part + -ālis -al¹

Related forms

par·tial·ly, adverb

par·tial·ness, noun

non·par·tial, adjective

non·par·tial·ly, adverb

o·ver·par·tial, adjective

EXPAND

o·ver·par·tial·ly, adverb

o·ver·par·tial·ness, noun

COLLAPSE

Can be confused: partially, partly.

Synonyms
1. unfinished, imperfect, limited. 2. one-sided, unfair, unjust.

Antonyms
1, 3. complete. 2. unbiased, fair.

Link To Partial

Example Sentences

The raid must be considered only a partial tactical success as well.

It only partially makes up for the flubbed question, but sometimes partial credit is better than none.

Now, he's working on algorithms that will identify likely matches for his images and for partial foot prints.

EXPAND

Collins

World English Dictionary

partial (ˈpɑːʃəl)

—*adj* (foll by to)
1.	relating to only a part; not general or complete: a partial eclipse
2.	biased: a partial judge
3.	having a particular liking (for)
4.	botany
	a. constituting part of a larger structure: a partial umbel
	b. used for only part of the life cycle of a plant: a partial habitat
	c. (of a parasite) not exclusively parasitic
5.	maths designating or relating to an operation in which only one of a set of independent variables is considered at a time

—n
6.	music, acoustics Also called: partial tone any of the component tones of a single musical sound, including both those that belong to the harmonic series of the sound and those that do not
7.	maths a partial derivative

[C15: from Old French parcial, from Late Latin partiālis incomplete, from Latin parspart]



'partially

—*adv*

'partialness

—n

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Etymonline

Word Origin & History

partial

early 15c., "one-sided, biased," from O.Fr. parcial (14c.), from M.L. partialis "divisible, solitary, partial," from L. pars (gen. partis) "part" (see part (n.)). Sense of "not whole, incomplete" is attested from mid-15c. (implied in partially "incompletely").

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