adjective
1 technical Reduced to minute particles or fragments.
‘finely comminuted and amorphous materials’- ‘The results indicate a significant quantity of sand and silt in the samples consists of carbonate material, possibly comprising comminuted fossils.’
- ‘The ribbon could be used for specialty applications, but is most often comminuted into flake powder for subsequent degassing and consolidation.’
- ‘The carbonate component is represented by rounded and polished grains of comminuted molluscs.’
- ‘The mudstone drapes contain very finely comminuted plant debris.’
fine-grained, powdery, dusty, chalky, floury, powdered, ground, granulated, crushed, pulverized- 1.1Medicine (of a fracture) producing multiple bone splinters.‘a grossly comminuted humeral fracture’
- ‘most avian fractures tend to be comminuted’
- ‘Beneath the muscles, and on the same side, I found an extensive comminuted fracture, the bone being broken into eight or nine different portions, and driven in upon the brain.’
- ‘If any instability is noted after reduction or the fracture is comminuted, the patient should be referred to an orthopedist.’
- ‘‘Our club doctor Mark Waller has confirmed that he suffered a comminuted fracture of the tibia and fracture of the fibula in his left leg.’’
- ‘One broken wrist, comminuted, and one rule-out internal bleeding.’
- ‘Imagine an open displaced angulated comminuted clavicle fracture.’
Origin
Early 17th century past participle of comminute, from Latin comminut- ‘broken into pieces’, from the verb comminuere, from com- ‘together’ + minuere ‘lessen’.
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