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View synonyms for partial

partial

[ pahr-shuhl ]

adjective

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

    partial blindness;

    a partial payment of a debt.

    Synonyms: limited, imperfect, unfinished

    Antonyms: complete

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

    a partial witness.

    Synonyms: unjust, unfair, one-sided

    Antonyms: fair, unbiased

  3. pertaining to or affecting a part.

    Antonyms: complete

  4. being a part; component; constituent.
  5. Botany. secondary or subordinate:

    a partial umbel.



noun

  1. Bridge. part-score.
  2. Acoustics, Music. partial tone.

partial

/ ˈpɑːʃəl /

adjective

  1. relating to only a part; not general or complete

    a partial eclipse

  2. biased

    a partial judge

  3. postpositivefoll byto having a particular liking (for)
  4. botany
    1. constituting part of a larger structure

      a partial umbel

    2. used for only part of the life cycle of a plant

      a partial habitat

    3. (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


noun

  1. Also calledpartial tone music acoustics 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
  2. maths a partial derivative

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Usage

See partly

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Derived Forms

  • ˈpartially, adverb
  • ˈpartialness, noun

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Other Words From

  • par·tial·ly adverb
  • par·tial·ness noun
  • non·par·tial adjective
  • o·ver·par·tial adjective
  • o·ver·par·tial·ness noun

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Word History and Origins

Origin of partial1

First recorded in 1375–1425; late Middle English parcial “biased, particular,” from Middle French, from Late Latin partiālis “pertaining to a part,” equivalent to Latin parti- (stem of pars ) “piece, portion” + -ālis adjective suffix; part, -al 1

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Word History and Origins

Origin of partial1

C15: from Old French parcial, from Late Latin partiālis incomplete, from Latin pars part

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Idioms and Phrases

Idioms
  1. partial to, having a liking or preference for; particularly fond of:

    I'm partial to chocolate cake.

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Example Sentences

About 71 percent of Americans would get the full benefits and another 17 percent would get the partial benefit, according to Kyle Pomerleau, a fellow at the American Enterprise Institute who specializes in tax policy.

The District released partial data Monday on the race and ethnicity of residents who have received coronavirus vaccination in the city, but cautioned against drawing conclusions based on the preliminary figures because they are incomplete.

A look aheadTranquil and seasonably chilly weather on Wednesday, and we’ll see at least partial sunshine return for the first time this workweek.

The emerging evidence, though still partial, puts some of those fears to rest.

That data is uploaded to a database where more than 800 law enforcement agencies can look up vehicles by license plate number, partial plates or a vehicle description like make, model and color of a car.

Despite the financial remedy, partial repeal of the screen quota has imperiled the domestic market.

Or perhaps Understanding, Partial Ignorance, and Total Ignorance.

A better taxonomy would break us up by words like Acceptance, Partial Denial, and Total Denial.

Kundera sees fiction as a realm of many partial truths, its only certainty “the wisdom of uncertainty.”

He majored in mathematical physics, studying mind-bending theories of quantum mechanics and partial differential equations.

Granular and fatty casts, therefore, always indicate partial or complete disintegration of the renal epithelium.

The 'whole' of him that now dealt with Lettice was far above all minor and partial means of knowing.

We merely tell thus much to account for her position and her partial refinement—both of which conditions she shared with Susan.

How can the utmost success be expected to follow a partial use of the means of Divine grace?

The natives are partial to the plant, and devotedly attached to smoking.

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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.

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