fastener

American  

[fas-uh-ner, fah-suh-] / ˈfæs ə nər, ˈfɑ sə- /

noun

• fasteners
  plural

1. any of various devices for fastening.

2. any of various devices, as a snap or hook and eye, for holding together two objects or parts sometimes required to be separate, as two edges or flaps of a piece of clothing.

3. a worker who fastens things together.

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• unfastener
  noun

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• fasteners
  plural

Etymology

Origin of fastener

First recorded in 1620–30; fasten + -er ¹

Explanation

A fastener is a device that attaches one thing to another or holds something in place, whether it's the fastener that secures a baby in her car seat or the fasteners you use to snap your jacket shut. If you go into a hardware store to buy fasteners, you'll come out with some kind of hardware you can use to fasten things together. Screws, bolts, and nails are all fasteners. Unlike welding and soldering, they're a non-permanent way to connect things. If you do a lot of sewing, you also use a variety of fasteners, from snaps and buttons to Velcro and hooks. A fastener makes things fast, or secure.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

fastener fasteners

The titular “hare with the amber eyes” in Edmund de Waal’s memoir is a netsuke, a tiny Japanese carving intended as a fastener for use with a kimono.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 30, 2026

Fastenal, the fastener maker, reported third-quarter earnings of 29 cents a share, missing analysts’ estimates of 30 cents, as revenue of $2.13 billion match expectations.

From Barron's ● Oct. 13, 2025

Jonathan Needham, from Hucknall in Nottinghamshire, found the 3,000-year-old gold dress or cloak fastener at Ellastone, near Ashbourne.

From BBC ● Jan. 31, 2024

I rarely had to stop work to go get the perfect part or fastener.

From Seattle Times ● Jan. 29, 2024

Then Dad twizzled the gold paper round the kite string like a sandwich-bag fastener.

From "Black Swan Green" by David Mitchell

Purveyors of bearings, fasteners, pneumatics and other manufacturing staples should see demand outpace their capacity to easily meet it, potentially leading to bottlenecks similar to what investors are seeing with memory chips.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 15, 2026

Aerospace and defense—where Carpenter’s alloys are used for landing gear, fasteners, and other components—comprises two-thirds of revenue.

From Barron's ● May 21, 2026

Small amounts of iron from parts such as rivets and other fasteners mix into the recycled metal.

From Science Daily ● Mar. 10, 2026

The targeted list includes door and window frames, fasteners, and towers.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 12, 2025

We drilled with his power tools and attached the sides with plastic fasteners.

From "Merci Suárez Changes Gears" by Meg Medina

Related Words

• latch
• screw