fabric

[fab-rik]

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noun

a cloth made by weaving, knitting, or felting fibers: woolen fabrics.

the texture of the woven, knitted, or felted material: cloth of a soft, pliant fabric.

framework; structure: the fabric of society.

a building; edifice.

the method of construction.

the act of constructing, especially of a church building.

the maintenance of such a building.

Petrography. the spatial arrangement and orientation of the constituents of a rock.

Nearby words

Origin of fabric

1475–85; (< Middle French fabrique) < Latin fabrica craft, especially metalworking or building, workshop. See forge¹

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for fabric

It's about the delicate fabric of the universe and how our fragile insides crumble when that fabric is torn.
Alfred Hitchcock’s Fade to Black: The Great Director’s Final Days|David Freeman|December 13, 2014|DAILY BEAST
You even went out and bought the fabric for your own Oscar dress, which would be unthinkable for an actress to do today.
All Eyes on Anjelica Huston: The Legendary Actress on Love, Abuse, and Jack Nicholson|Alex Suskind|November 10, 2014|DAILY BEAST
The women of the city donned their abayas, the fabric drawn in around their waists.
Saudi Activist Manal Al-Sharif on Why She Removed the Veil|Manal Al Sharif, Advancing Human Rights|October 30, 2014|DAILY BEAST
However, in all his work, even in many of the nude portraits he took, there are veils, whether of glass or fabric or color washes.
Vogue Photographer Erwin Blumenfeld: Secrets of a Fashion Legend|Tim Teeman|September 14, 2014|DAILY BEAST

Burlesque artists are often in it for the costumes, spending what they earn on fabric, feathers, and crystals.
Best Career Arc Ever: From Burlesque To Bartending|Anne Berry|September 13, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Not far away was the wrecked plane, an incongruous mass of streaks where the fabric had ripped through the gas-paint.
Astounding Stories of Super-Science, October, 1930|Various
A lottery was finally established for the benefit of the fabric.
Sketches and Studies in Italy and Greece|John Addington Symonds
My section and drawing give a clear idea of the construction of this fabric.
Prehistoric Textile Fabrics Of The United States, Derived From Impressions On Pottery|William Henry Holmes
Upon the precession of the equinoxes they erect a fabric of retrograde chronology, and set a clock to geologic time.
Lippincott's Magazine of Popular Literature and Science, Vol. 17, No. 97, January, 1876|Various
Close examination reveals that the triangular sections of fabric used to add fullness to the skirt consist of several pieces.
Women's Bathing and Swimming Costume in the United States|Claudia B. Kidwell

British Dictionary definitions for fabric

fabric

noun

any cloth made from yarn or fibres by weaving, knitting, felting, etc

the texture of a cloth

a structure or frameworkthe fabric of society

a style or method of construction

rare a building

the texture, arrangement, and orientation of the constituents of a rock

Word Origin for fabric

C15: from Latin fabrica workshop, from faber craftsman

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for fabric

fabric

late 15c., "building, thing made," from Middle French fabrique (14c.), from Latin fabrica "workshop," also "an art, trade; a skillful production, structure, fabric," from faber "artisan who works in hard materials," from PIE *dhabh- "to fit together." Sense in English evolved via "manufactured material" (1753) to "textile" (1791).