partial

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 [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},
         {partial}]
    2: a harmonic with a frequency that is a multiple of the
       fundamental frequency [syn: {overtone}, {partial}, {partial
       tone}]
    

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.
      [1913 Webster]

   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.
      [1913 Webster]

   {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]
    

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