Partial

3 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  partial \par"tial\ (p[aum]r"shal), a. [F., fr. LL. partials, fr.
     L. pars, gen. partis, a part; cf. (for sense 1) F. partiel.
     See {Part}, n.]
     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." --T.


        Burnet.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     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.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              Ye have been partial in the law.      --Mal. ii. 9.
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     3. Having a predilection for; inclined to favor unreasonably;
        foolishly fond. "A partial parent." --Pope.
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              Not partial to an ostentatious display. --Sir W.
                                                    Scott.
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     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.
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     {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}.
        [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  partial
       adj 1: being or affecting only a part; not total; "a partial
              description of the suspect"; "partial collapse"; "a
              partial eclipse"; "a partial monopoly"; "partial
              immunity"
       2: showing favoritism [syn: {unfair}] [ant: {impartial}]
       3: (followed by `of' or `to') having a strong preference or
          liking for; "fond of chocolate"; "partial to horror
          movies" [syn: {fond(p)}, {partial(p)}]
       n 1: the derivative of a function of two or more variables with
            respect to a single variable while the other variables
            are considered to be constant [syn: {partial derivative}]
       2: a harmonic with a frequency that is a multiple of the
          fundamental frequency [syn: {overtone}, {partial tone}]

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  116 Moby Thesaurus words for "partial":
     AF, adulterated, antiblack, arrested, audio frequency, biased,
     blemished, callow, chauvinistic, colored, damaged, defective,
     deficient, denominational, discriminatory, doctrinaire, dogmatic,
     embryonic, erroneous, factional, failing, fallible, faulty,
     fond of, found wanting, fractional, fragmentary, frequency,
     fundamental, fundamental tone, half, halfway, harmonic,
     hypoplastic, immature, impaired, imperfect, imprecise, impure,
     in arrear, in arrears, in default, in favor of, in short supply,
     inaccurate, inadequate, inclined, incomplete, inexact, infant,
     influenced, interested, intonation, involved, jaundiced,
     know-nothing, lacking, makeshift, mediocre, missing, mixed,
     monotone, monotony, needing, nonobjective, not perfect, off,
     one-and-a-half, one-sided, opinionated, overtone, part, partial to,
     partial tone, partisan, partly, party, patchy, pitch,
     predisposed to, prejudiced, prepossessed, racist, scant, scanty,
     scrappy, sectarian, sectary, sectional, segmental, segmentary,
     sexist, short, shy, sketchy, superpatriotic, swayed, tendentious,
     tone, tonelessness, twisted, ultranationalist, underdeveloped,
     undetached, undeveloped, undispassionate, uneven, unfair,
     unfinished, unneutral, unperfected, unsound, unthorough, wanting,
     warped, xenophobic