fabricate
Americanverb (used with object)
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fabricates,
present (3rd person singular)
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fabricated,
past participle, past
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fabricating
present participle
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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:
"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
In April, Musk followed suit, announcing that Intel would join his ambitious Terafab manufacturing initiative to help “design, fabricate, and package ultra-high-performance chips at scale.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 11, 2026
AI models “hallucinate,” meaning they routinely fabricate information, without any sign that the answers could be made up.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 22, 2026
It added that the ministry had also directed the app to disable in India the message-editing feature till 30 June, saying that the feature had been used to "fabricate" evidence of paper leaks.
From BBC ● Jun. 16, 2026
On leaving home I was able to fabricate a new and far more satisfying history, frill of striking, simplistic environmental influences; a colorful past, easily accessible to strangers.
From "The Secret History" by Donna Tartt
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
However, Javi grossly fabricates his role in all of this and enjoys the rewards until they blow up in his face.
From Salon ● Mar. 30, 2024
That is the polite word, is it not, for one who fights by subtlety and fabricates untruths?
From Capricious Caroline by Effie Adelaide Rowlands
His team planted fabricated papers naming the targets in a submerged chest in a Czech lake near the German border before “discovering” them in 1964.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 12, 2026
"Because these crystalline membranes can be fabricated over large areas and transferred onto different supports, this approach provides a practical path toward twist-engineered oxide electronics."
From Science Daily ● Aug. 3, 2026
But Liverpool Crown Court heard Owen had "fabricated the events" to "get rid of the vehicle" and get out of his finance agreement - and later even sold the story to tabloid newspapers.
From BBC ● Aug. 3, 2026
Four of the clients said they fabricated their claims, which the firm later withdrew.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 12, 2026
“Holism,” a fabricated word, has been applied to concepts like the Superorganism.
From "The Lives of a Cell" by Lewis Thomas
These include cases in which the men were exonerated through DNA or blood evidence and others in which police are accused of fabricating evidence.
From Salon ● Aug. 10, 2026
He became embarrassed after he was caught fabricating or embellishing stories about playing college baseball, responding to protest scenes and an award he won in the police academy, according to the motion.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 7, 2026
The former chair of the education faculty has also faced accusations of fabricating or exaggerating elements of his CV.
From BBC ● Aug. 7, 2026
Santos, who was elected as a Republican from a New York district, is known for fabricating his life story to win public office and was expelled from the House in 2023.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 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
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.
