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partial (adj.)

late 14c., "not whole or total, incomplete;" early 15c., "one-sided, biased, inclined to favor one party in a cause or one side of a question more than the other," also "pertaining to a selfish interest rather than to a common or larger good," from Old French parcial (14c., Modern French partial) and directly from Medieval Latin partialis "divisible, solitary, partial," from Latin pars (genitive partis) "a part, piece, a share, a division" (from PIE root *pere- (2) "to grant, allot").

Weakened sense of "favorably disposed" is from 1580s. Meaning "affecting a part only, not universal or general" is by 1640s.

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Definitions of partial from WordNet
1
partial (adj.)
(followed by `of' or `to') having a strong preference or liking for;
partial to horror movies
Synonyms: fond
partial (adj.)
being or affecting only a part; not total;
partial collapse
a partial eclipse
a partial monopoly
partial immunity
a partial description of the suspect
partial (adj.)
showing favoritism;
2
partial (n.)
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
partial (n.)
a harmonic with a frequency that is a multiple of the fundamental frequency;
Synonyms: overtone / partial tone
From wordnet.princeton.edu