fabricate
Americanverb (used with object)
-
fabricates,
present (3rd person singular)
-
fabricated,
past participle, past
-
fabricating
present participle
-
to make by art or skill and labor; construct.
The finest craftspeople fabricated this clock.
-
to make by assembling parts or sections.
-
to devise or invent (a legend, lie, etc.).
-
to fake; forge (a document, signature, etc.).
verb
-
to make, build, or construct
-
to devise, invent, or concoct (a story, lie, etc)
-
to fake or forge
Synonym Usage
See manufacture.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
fabricatesimple
-
fabricatessimple
-
have fabricatedperfect
-
has fabricatedperfect
-
am fabricatingprogressive
-
are fabricatingprogressive
-
is fabricatingprogressive
-
have been fabricatingperfect progressive
-
has been fabricatingperfect progressive
Past
-
fabricatedsimple
-
had fabricatedperfect
-
was fabricatingprogressive
-
were fabricatingprogressive
-
had been fabricatingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of fabricate
First recorded in 1400–50; late Middle English, from Latin fabricātus “made,” past participle of fabricāre; see fabric, -ate 1
Explanation
Do you like to construct mini airplanes from kits? Work on an assembly line? Piece together Ikea furniture? Then you certainly know how to fabricate, or to put together, things. While fabricate might mean the physical act of construction, it can also mean constructing a falsehood. Watch out — those well versed in the art of fabrication might have an ulterior motive. In the movies, the bad cops sometimes fabricate evidence to make the good guy look guilty. When you tell the teacher the dog ate your homework, you’ve fabricated a pretty silly excuse. So if you’re going to fabricate the truth, get some better material!
Vocabulary lists containing fabricate
Advanced English Words
Looking to grow your vocabulary? Check out this interactive, curated word list from our team of English language specialists at Vocabulary.com – one of over 17,000 lists we've built to help learners worldwide!
Fake It 'Til You Make It: Synonyms for "False"
Interested in learning more words like this one? Our team at Vocabulary.com has got you covered! You can review flashcards, quiz yourself, practice spelling, and more – and it's all completely free to use!
100 SAT Words Beginning with "F"
Want to remember this word for good? Start your learning journey today with our library of interactive, themed word lists built by the experts at Vocabulary.com – we'll help you make the most of your study time!
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
County’s district attorney and the State Bar after The Times reported last fall that some of its clients said they’d been paid to sue, and, in some cases, fabricate their claims against the county.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 4, 2026
Two said they were told to fabricate stories.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 27, 2026
"This nonequilibrium fabrication approach enables us to fabricate materials from alloy vapor to a solid, introducing a significant number of dislocations in CoAl," Zhang said.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 31, 2026
AI models “hallucinate,” meaning they routinely fabricate information, without any sign that the answers could be made up.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 22, 2026
I learned quickly, however, what I was expected to do with the doll: rock it, fabricate storied situations around it, even sleep with it.
From "The Bluest Eye" by Toni Morrison
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., or TSMC, fabricates roughly 90% of the world’s most advanced semiconductor chips.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 13, 2026
Exiled by Astoria to the garage, Hampton fabricates his special drill as the family watches from afar.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 16, 2025
Now his custom-made creations, which he designs and fabricates after work in his garage in Port Chester, N.Y., are featured in those same lowrider magazines.
From New York Times ● May 19, 2024
To print a new material from scratch, one must typically set up to 100 parameters in software that controls how the printer will extrude the material as it fabricates an object.
From Science Daily ● Apr. 8, 2024
Nobody knows, but popular imagination with its terrible powers of invention and precision, readily fabricates or welcomes a murderous phrase.
From The French Revolution - Volume 1 by John Durand
Geese were always an odd band to pin to anxieties about fabricated culture — if a label had resources and abilities to manufacture stars, why not do it for a 100x-hyperscaling pop act instead?
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 16, 2026
The Fort Irwin fighting climaxed with a predawn attack on a fabricated city, Razish, a relic of training for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 10, 2026
An artificial intelligence model developed by Anthropic submitted a fabricated tip about an unsolved homicide to Philadelphia police, authorities said Friday, criticizing the company for taking two months to report the incident.
From Barron's ● Oct. 9, 2026
Khan blamed communication difficulties for a "misunderstanding" and denied advising the reporter to make a false claim or offering to create fabricated evidence.
From BBC ● Oct. 6, 2026
We grew suspicious, for a stranger in our midst probably meant a SIM plant with a fabricated name.
From "In the Time of the Butterflies" by Julia Alvarez
Uber, FedEx and auto insurers have also filed racketeering suits against plaintiff firms and their abettors for allegedly fabricating and exaggerating injuries.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 6, 2026
The incidents included the models generating instructions to get around restrictions imposed on them, hiding mistakes and fabricating information.
From BBC ● Sep. 17, 2026
Musk also offered Trumpian prose: “Gutless Gibney’s fatal flaw of fabricating a false film.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 11, 2026
Singh worked with Jyoti Katoch, an associate professor of physics who specializes in fabricating devices from such materials.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 3, 2026
Its inhabitants were reduced to fabricating adzes out of giant clamshells.
From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond
Random Word
Spin the wheel and learn a new word!
Get a wordDefinitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
