PARTIAL • DICTIONARY ONE.COM • Definition of Partial

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/pˈɑrʃəl/ Listen

adjective

partial adj.

1.

Of, pertaining to, or affecting, a part only; not general or universal; not total or entire; as, a partial eclipse of the moon. "Partial dissolutions of the earth."

2.

Inclined to favor one party in a cause, or one side of a question, more then the other; biased; not indifferent; as, a judge should not be partial. "Ye have been partial in the law."

3.

Having a predilection for; inclined to favor unreasonably; foolishly fond. "A partial parent." "Not partial to an ostentatious display."

4.

(Bot.) Pertaining to a subordinate portion; as, a compound umbel is made up of a several partial umbels; a leaflet is often supported by a partial petiole.

Partial differentials, Partial differential coefficients, Partial differentiation, etc. (of a function of two or more variables), the differentials, differential coefficients, differentiation etc., of the function, upon the hypothesis that some of the variables are for the time constant.

Partial fractions (Alg.), fractions whose sum equals a given fraction.

Partial tones (Music), the simple tones which in combination form an ordinary tone; the overtones, or harmonics, which, blending with a fundamental tone, cause its special quality of sound, or timbre, or tone color. See, also, Tone.

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Etymology of 'Partial'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Partial" Quotes from Famous Books

... this second precipice, we found winter and desolation under drizzling clouds which afforded but partial and transient glimpses of the world below. The surface at the summit of the cliffs was broad and consisted of large blocks of sandstone, separated by wide fissures full of dwarf bushes of banksia and casuarinae. These rocks were ...

— Three Expeditions into the Interior of Eastern Australia, Vol 2 (of 2) • Thomas Mitchell

... of the piercing eyes of the "old guard," of those merciless and horribly intelligent women who had marked with amazement her sudden collapse into old age ten years ago, who would mark with a perhaps even greater amazement this bizarre attempt at a partial return towards ...

— December Love • Robert Hichens

... hesitates. What he has seen is still at bottom so new, so unexpected, so far removed from familiar conceptions. For this surging wave of thought our mind contains none of those ready-cut channels which render comprehension easy. But whether, in the long run, we each of us give or refuse complete or partial adhesion, all of us, at least, have received a regenerating shock, an internal upheaval not readily silenced: the network of our intellectual habits is broken; henceforth a new leaven works and ferments in us; we shall no longer think as we used to think; and be we pupils or critics, we cannot ...

— A New Philosophy: Henri Bergson • Edouard le Roy

... wings; He, downward looking in his airy ride, Beholds Elysium bloom on every side; Unearthly bliss each thrilling nerve attunes, And thus the dreamer with himself communes. Yes! Earth shall witness, 'ere my star be set, That partial nature mark'd me for her pet; That Phoebus doom'd me, kind indulgent sire! To mount his car, and set the world on fire. Fame's steep ascent by easy flights to win, With a neat pocket volume I'll begin; And dirge, and sonnet, ode, and epigram, ...

— Poems (1828) • Thomas Gent

... therefore, tends to keep them in a permanent state. Some individuals again, in less affluence than others, endeavour to equal them; by which means some progress is still making in the nation that possesses the greatest share of wealth and power; but it is only partial and feeble. Those who live in the nation that is the most advanced are contented and have all they wish; they possess every thing of which they know, they can have no particular desire for any thing they have not got, that will produce great energy and exertion. ...

— An Inquiry into the Permanent Causes of the Decline and Fall of Powerful and Wealthy Nations. • William Playfair

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