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
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
And why MedPac — an independent body overseen by leading healthcare professionals from across all parts of the industry, from doctors to nursing organizations to health insurers themselves — would fabricate these numbers is unexplained.
From MarketWatch ● May 28, 2026
Andrew Glazer, director of the documentary on the 2018 disappearances, told AFP that Ramos is accused of paying actors to fabricate allegations against the military.
From Barron's ● May 14, 2026
Little by little he remembered fewer and fewer of the details, until finally he had to imagine them, even fabricate them, guess what they must have been.
From "Song of Solomon" by Toni Morrison
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
Now his custom-made creations, which he designs and fabricates after work in his garage in Port Chester, N.Y., are featured in those same lowrider magazines.
From New York Times ● May 19, 2024
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
Love dareth and endureth all things, magnifies and lessens, softens and hardens, loosens and binds, establishes for itself new worlds, fabricates for itself new values, chastens, humbles, makes weak, makes strong.
From The Sagebrusher A Story of the West by Hough, Emerson
A7 hasn’t commented on the hack, although a Shor-backed political group hit by the hack has said the leaked documents included fabricated conversations.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 8, 2026
Egypt's Ministry of Interior said the alleged scam involved fabricated scenes in court and impersonating a judge on social media.
From BBC ● Aug. 4, 2026
"If fabricated studies make their way into the evidence base, they can mislead real scientists and ultimately slow progress for patients. That's why it's vital we get ahead of this problem."
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
But the words of the others were stronger than the strength of philanthropic dollars, deeper than shafts sunk in the earth for oil and gold, more awe-inspiring than the miracles fabricated in scientific laboratories.
From "Invisible Man" by Ralph Ellison
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 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
Neither the defence's witnesses nor the prison's doctors believed Jeffries was "malingering" - or intentionally fabricating or exaggerating his symptoms.
From BBC ● Mar. 28, 2026
“I pondered a great many options before settling on fabricating everything from ice. I am pleased that you think it like a dream, as that is where the core of the idea came from.”
From "The Night Circus" by Erin Morgenstern
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.
