fabric
[fab-rik]
- 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.
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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. 2018
Examples from the Web for fabric
Contemporary Examples
It's about the delicate fabric of the universe and how our fragile insides crumble when that fabric is torn.
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 NicholsonAlex Suskind
November 10, 2014
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 VeilManal Al Sharif, Advancing Human Rights
October 30, 2014
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.
Burlesque artists are often in it for the costumes, spending what they earn on fabric, feathers, and crystals.
Historical Examples
Even through the fabric of their suits he could feel her trembling.
Pirates of the GormNat Schachner
Nona was gripping his hand with a pressure that penetrated the fabric.
Pirates of the GormNat Schachner
It left in the paper an indistinct impression resembling a fabric.
Why Bewick SucceededJacob Kainen
The tale of Atlantis is the fabric of a vision, but it has never ceased to interest mankind.
TimaeusPlato
Then all the fabric of his mother's honor would there and then tumble to the ground.
A Son of HagarSir Hall Caine
fabric
- 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
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Word Origin
C15: from Latin fabrica workshop, from faber craftsman
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for fabric
n.
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).
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper