comminution

Meaning

1. The breaking or grinding up of a material to form smaller particles.
2. The fracture of a bone site in multiple pieces (technically, at least three); crumbling.

Synonyms

pulverization

crushing

making small

trituration

cracking

crumbling

disperse

flaking

fracture

fragmenting

grating

shredding

porphyrization

size reduction

break

porphyrize

breaking

broken

chopping

Hyphenated as

com‧mi‧nu‧tion

Pronounced as (IPA)

/ˌkɒmɪˈnjuːʃ(ə)n/

Etymology

From Latin comminūtiō (“breaking into pieces, crumbling, shattering; crushing, pulverizing”), from Latin comminuō (“to break or crumble into small pieces; to crush, pulverize”) (from com- (“prefix indicating completeness”) + minuō (“to make smaller; to diminish, lessen”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *mey- (“little, small”)) + Latin -tiō (“suffix forming a noun relating to some action or the result of an action”); equivalent to comminute + -ion.