partial

/ˈpɑrʃəl/

/ˈpɑʃəl/

Other forms: partials

If you describe something as partial, you're usually saying it's just part of the whole, or incomplete. Say someone asks how you started your band and you say, "I bought a guitar." That would be a partial answer, at best.

Partial has another meaning, too. If you say you are partial to something, you are expressing a fondness for it. Or not. If someone asks you whether you still love your husband after 50 years of marriage, for example, and you say, "I'm partial to him," you're either joking or politely saying "Not really." Being partial to something is to love as a warm stove is to a bonfire.

Definitions of partial

1. adjective

   being or affecting only a part; not total
   “a partial description of the suspect”

   “partial collapse”

   “a partial eclipse”

   “a partial monopoly”

   “partial immunity”

   synonyms:

   incomplete, uncomplete

   not complete or total; not completed
2. adjective

   showing favoritism
   synonyms:

   unfair, unjust

   not fair; marked by injustice or partiality or deception

   biased, colored, coloured, one-sided, skewed, slanted

   favoring one person or side over another

   antonyms:

   impartial

   showing lack of favoritism

   fair, just

   free from favoritism or self-interest or bias or deception; conforming with established standards or rules

   disinterested

   unaffected by self-interest

   cold-eyed, dispassionate

   unaffected by strong emotion or prejudice

   indifferent, unbiased, unbiassed

   characterized by a lack of partiality

   indifferent

   marked by no especial liking or dislike or preference for one thing over another
3. adjective

   (followed by `of' or `to') having a strong preference or liking for
   “partial to horror movies”

   synonyms: fond

   inclined

   (often followed by `to') having a preference, disposition, or tendency
4. noun

   a harmonic with a frequency that is a multiple of the fundamental frequency
   synonyms: overtone, partial tone

   type of:

   harmonic

   a tone that is a component of a complex sound
5. noun

   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
   synonyms: partial derivative

   type of:

   derivative, derived function, differential, differential coefficient, first derivative

   the result of mathematical differentiation; the instantaneous change of one quantity relative to another; df(x)/dx