fastener
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Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of fastener
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
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:
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
For example, it could be a matter of tightening the existing fasteners better, or it might require a different type of fastener.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 10, 2024
So when she saw Trotter’s purse with its no-good fastener lying wide open on the bed, inviting her, practically demanding her to look in, she did so.
From "The Great Gilly Hopkins" by Katherine Paterson
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
Portland, Ore.: By preventing the stripping of fasteners, Henry Phillips’s design enabled the use of high-speed power tools essential for World War II-era assembly lines.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 9, 2026
That event delayed the production of fasteners needed to assemble jets.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 28, 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
Our teacher fumbled urgently with the neck fasteners on his aviator helmet.
From "100 Sideways Miles" by Andrew Smith
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.
