fabricate
Americanverb (used with object)
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to make by art or skill and labor; construct.
The finest craftspeople fabricated this clock.
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to make by assembling parts or sections.
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to devise or invent (a legend, lie, etc.).
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to fake; forge (a document, signature, etc.).
verb
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to make, build, or construct
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to devise, invent, or concoct (a story, lie, etc)
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to fake or forge
Synonym Usage
See manufacture.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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fabricatesimple
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fabricatessimple
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have fabricatedperfect
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has fabricatedperfect
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am fabricatingprogressive
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are fabricatingprogressive
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is fabricatingprogressive
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have been fabricatingperfect progressive
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has been fabricatingperfect progressive
Past
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fabricatedsimple
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had fabricatedperfect
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was fabricatingprogressive
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were fabricatingprogressive
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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
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Fake It 'Til You Make It: Synonyms for "False"
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100 SAT Words Beginning with "F"
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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:
AI models “hallucinate,” meaning they routinely fabricate information, without any sign that the answers could be made up.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 22, 2026
"We see AI that's been used to manipulate images to look like they've been damaged in a certain way, even to create and fabricate documents that were never there in the first place."
From BBC ● Apr. 15, 2026
In an announcement Tuesday, Intel said it would work with the companies to “design, fabricate, and package ultra-high-performance chips at scale.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 7, 2026
"We often report on misinformers and other hoaxsters using AI to fabricate false images and videos," said Waqar Rizvi from the misinformation tracker NewsGuard.
From Barron's ● Mar. 30, 2026
Even being lied to constantly, though hardly like love, was sustained attention; he must care about her to fabricate so elaborately and over such a long stretch of time.
From "Atonement" by Ian McEwan
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
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
Yet at the end of every date, she fabricates reasons Jo can’t come into her apartment.
From New York Times ● Apr. 24, 2023
But Nora is always on the defensive and fabricates when it is necessary, and when it isn't, just through habit.
From Love, Life & Work Being a Book of Opinions Reasonably Good-Natured Concerning How to Attain the Highest Happiness for One's Self with the Least Possible Harm to Others by Hubbard, Elbert
These studies may contain reused text, unusual or awkward language, and fabricated data or images.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 16, 2026
Four of the clients said they fabricated their claims, which the firm later withdrew.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 12, 2026
Since their own legitimacy depended on the state and ruling party that Lenin established, it is easy to understand why these two reformers fabricated their own Lenin.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 10, 2026
South African foreign ministry official Clayson Monyela told the BBC that claims linking the Ghanaian's death to the anti-migrant protests were a "fabricated tale".
From BBC ● Jul. 2, 2026
For many years, once I was sensible that she exaggerated or fabricated the tales she told me, I bore the humiliation of this mark of her disesteem.
From "The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume II: The Kingdom on the Waves" by M.T. Anderson
The White House isn’t accusing the Times of fabricating a story about the plane’s vulnerabilities.
From Salon ● Jul. 15, 2026
If they prevail, expect costlier new homes and thousands of lost jobs in the U.S. quartz fabricating industry.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 31, 2026
Examples include fabricating legal cases or producing images with unrealistic details such as extra fingers.
From Science Daily ● Apr. 5, 2026
The company has faced allegations of fraud from short sellers who accuse it of misrepresenting its products and fabricating revenue, claims the company hasn’t addressed publicly to date.
From Barron's ● Jan. 15, 2026
He specialized, though, in making new ones, sometimes assembling the popular one-cylinder McIntyre Imp cycle-cars, sometimes fabricating new vehicles entirely of his own contrivance.
From "The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics" by Daniel James Brown
Definitions 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.
