fabricate

[fab-ri-keyt]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR fabricate ON THESAURUS.COM

verb (used with object), fab·ri·cat·ed, fab·ri·cat·ing.

to make by art or skill and labor; construct: The finest craftspeople fabricated this clock.

to make by assembling parts or sections.

to devise or invent (a legend, lie, etc.).

to fake; forge (a document, signature, etc.).

Origin of fabricate

1400–50; late Middle English < Latin fabricātus made, past participle of fabricāre. See fabric, -ate¹

Related formsfab·ri·ca·tive, adjectivefab·ri·ca·tor, nounqua·si-fab·ri·cat·ed, adjectiveun·fab·ri·cat·ed, adjectivewell-fab·ri·cat·ed, adjective

Synonym study

1. See manufacture.

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

Related Words for fabricated

formulate, contrive, construct, invent, assemble, concoct, fake, misrepresent, fudge, counterfeit, compose, join, form, mix, devise, make, produce, brainstorm, erect, shape

Examples from the Web for fabricated

Contemporary Examples of fabricated

Ergo if the finest minds at Breitbart can't find him, Dunham's story must be fabricated.
The Right's Rape Trolls vs. Lena Dunham
Emily Shire
December 10, 2014
The head of the prison says Figueroa fabricated the story as a ploy to get the Dutchman transferred.
Did Joran Van Der Sloot Fake His Prison Shanking?
Andrea Zarate, Barbie Latza Nadeau
November 5, 2014
It is 32 pages long and looks like it was fabricated during the Civil War.
Blurred Lines at NY Sketchbook Museum
Daniel Genis
November 1, 2014
Female video game developers like Zoe Quinn have been torn apart and harassed for fabricated scandals.
Is ‘Magic: The Gathering’ Immune to GamerGate Misogyny?
David Levesley
October 29, 2014
Orlando, Florida, is best known as the epicenter of fabricated family fun.
The Heart and Soul (Food) of Orlando
Jane & Michael Stern
June 8, 2014

Historical Examples of fabricated

He fabricated some excuse or other, and the excuse was accepted, to his great relief.
Cap'n Dan's Daughter
Joseph C. Lincoln
Hephzy had already given them some excuse, fabricated on the spur of the moment.
Kent Knowles: Quahaug
Joseph C. Lincoln
Those metal cubes had been fabricated about three years previously.
Hall of Mirrors
Fredric Brown
They were looking for the plant that fabricated the elements for Merlin, weren't they?
The Cosmic Computer
Henry Beam Piper
Their piercing war-whoops were blended with the loud beatings of a kind of drum which they had fabricated.
The Adventures of the Chevalier De La Salle and His Companions, in Their Explorations of the Prairies, Forests, Lakes, and Rivers, of the New World, and Their Interviews with the Savage Tribes, Two Hundred Years Ago
John S. C. Abbott

British Dictionary definitions for fabricated

fabricate

verb (tr)

to make, build, or construct

to devise, invent, or concoct (a story, lie, etc)

to fake or forge

Derived Formsfabrication, nounfabricative, adjectivefabricator, noun

Word Origin for fabricate

C15: from Latin fabricāre to build, make, from fabrica workshop; see fabric

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 fabricated

fabricate

mid-15c., "to fashion, make, build," from Latin fabricatus, past participle of fabricare "make, construct, fashion, build," from fabrica (see fabric). In bad sense of "to tell a lie," etc., it is recorded by 1779. Related: Fabricated; fabricating.