fabric

[fab-rik]

noun

1. a cloth made by weaving, knitting, or felting fibers.

   woolen fabrics.

2. the texture of the woven, knitted, or felted material.

   cloth of a soft, pliant fabric.

3. framework; structure.

   the fabric of society.

4. a building; edifice.

5. the method of construction.

6. the act of constructing, especially of a church building.

7. the maintenance of such a building.

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

fabric

/ ˈfæbrɪk /

noun

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

2. the texture of a cloth

3. a structure or framework

   the fabric of society

4. a style or method of construction

5. rare,  a building

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

Word History and Origins

Origin of fabric¹

1475–85; (< Middle French fabrique ) < Latin fabrica craft, especially metalworking or building, workshop. See forge ¹

Word History and Origins

Origin of fabric¹

C15: from Latin fabrica workshop, from faber craftsman

Example Sentences

While inspecting the bunker, Colonel Roswell P Rosengren of the US army saw an opportunity to get a unique war trophy and he pocketed the fabric.

Read more on BBC

None of this will change government policy in a way that enhances freedom, helps the economy, or improves the social fabric.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Another is Harris tweed, the manufacturer of a fabric handwoven in the Outer Hebrides, which has risen from near death and now employs hundreds, selling its products all over the world.

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Papers and fabrics lined tables as she and her sister inspected a pair of entirely handmade wings they had devised from tubes, feathers and even car parts.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

The painter’s technical brilliance is evident in the soft shading of features and the depiction of multiple layers of transparent fabric.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Related Words

• fiber 
• goods 
• textile 
• texture