fibre

American  

[fahy-ber] / ˈfaɪ bər /

noun

Chiefly British.

1. a variant of fiber.

---

fibre British  

/ ˈfaɪbə /

noun

1. a natural or synthetic filament that may be spun into yarn, such as cotton or nylon

2. cloth or other material made from such yarn

3. a long fine continuous thread or filament

4. the structure of any material or substance made of or as if of fibres; texture

5. essential substance or nature

   all the fibres of his being were stirred

6. strength of character (esp in the phrase moral fibre )

7. See dietary fibre

8. botany

   1. a narrow elongated thick-walled cell: a constituent of sclerenchyma tissue

   2. such tissue extracted from flax, hemp, etc, used to make linen, rope, etc

   3. a very small root or twig

9. anatomy any thread-shaped structure, such as a nerve fibre

---

Other Word Forms

• fibred adjective
• fibreless adjective

Etymology

Origin of fibre

C14: from Latin fibra filament, entrails

Example Sentences

The silk fibres are implanted into a vein or hollow conduit to repair a nerve and eventually degrade into the body.

From BBC

"The potential applications are vast -- lightweight protective clothing, airplane components, biodegradable medical implants, and even soft robotics could benefit from fibres engineered using these natural principles," he said.

From Science Daily

Rather than chasing trends, she says there are some easy things people can do to keep their gut happy like "eating more plants, increasing fibre and cutting back on ultra-processed foods".

From BBC

Industry groups have complained that the new fire safety regulations have led to lengthy delays to carry out minor work to install fibre cables.

From BBC

Barron compared the proposal to a framework once agreed among forensic scientists about how to evaluate fibres found in clothes during a criminal investigation.

From Barron's