par·tial
(pär
sh
l)
KEY
ADJECTIVE:
- Of, relating to, being, or affecting only a part; not total; incomplete:
The plan calls for partial deployment of missiles. The police have only a partial description of the suspect.
- Favoring one person or side over another or others; biased or prejudiced:
a decision that was partial to the plaintiff.
- Having a particular liking or fondness for something or someone:
partial to spicy food.
-
Mathematics
Of or being operations or sequences of operations, such as differentiation and integration, when applied to only one of several variables at a time.
NOUN:
-
Music
See harmonic.
-
Mathematics
A partial derivative.
ETYMOLOGY:
Middle English
parcial, from Old French, from Late Latin
parti
lis, from Latin
pars
, part-,
part ; see
part
OTHER FORMS:
partial·ness
(Noun)
