partial

Etymology

From Middle English partiall, parcial, from Old French parcial (“biased or particular”), from Late Latin partiālis (“of or pertaining to a part”), from Latin pars (“part”).

adj

1. existing as a part or portion; incomplete
   So far, I have only pieced together a partial account of the incident.
2. (computer science) describing a property that holds only when an algorithm terminates
   It's easy to prove partial correctness, but it's not obvious that it is also totally correct.
3. biased in favor of a person, side, or point of view, especially when dealing with a competition or dispute
   The referee is blatantly partial!
   God is not partial; he does not play favorites.
   17th century, Alexander Pope, a letter partial parent
4. (followed by the preposition to) having a predilection for something
   But if a woman is partial to a man, and does not endeavour to conceal it, he must find it out. 1817, Jane Austen, chapter 6, in Pride and Prejudice, page 32
   of
5. (mathematics) of or relating to a partial derivative or partial differential
6. (botany) subordinate

noun

1. (mathematics) A partial derivative: a derivative with respect to one independent variable of a function in multiple variables while holding the other variables constant.
2. (music) Any of the sine waves which make up a complex tone; often an overtone or harmonic of the fundamental.
3. (dentistry) dentures that replace only some of the natural teeth
4. (forensics) An incomplete fingerprint
5. (programming, Internet) A fragment of a template containing markup.
   In fact, as seen in Chapters 5 and 6, the resulting document is usually the product of rendering a layout, which yields the rendering of the template at hand, which in turn can invoke the rendering of other templates and/or one or more partials. 2009, Antonio Cangiano, Ruby on Rails for Microsoft Developers, page 356
6. (bodybuilding) The condition of not exhausting the amplitude during the repetition of an exercise.
   Research tells us that eccentrics, heavy partials, and static exercise may require several days or weeks of recovery time. 2021, Edward L. Wallace, Omniflex: A Unified System of Strength Training
7. (furry fandom) A fursuit that does not fully cover the wearer's body.

verb

1. (statistics, transitive) To take the partial regression coefficient.