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Synonyms

fibrous

American  
[fahy-bruhs] / ˈfaɪ brəs /

adjective

  1. containing, consisting of, or resembling fibers.


fibrous British  
/ ˈfaɪbrəs /

adjective

  1. consisting of, containing, or resembling fibres

    fibrous tissue

"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

Other Word Forms


Etymology

Origin of fibrous

First recorded in 1620–30; fibr- + -ous


Explanation

Something that's fibrous is coarse and stringy, like thick yarn or twine. Some baskets are made of woven and twisted fibrous branches. Fibrous things look like the fibers that are braided or twisted together to make a length of rope or jute. Many tree roots are fibrous, as are many vines and branches. A complicated hairdo may look like it's made of fibrous cords of hair. When you're eating something fibrous, it's hard to chew, like a chunk of fibrous meat in your stew or a fibrous broccoli stalk in your stir-fry. Fibrous comes from the Latin fibra, "fiber or filament."

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Vocabulary lists containing fibrous

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 fibrous leftover from beer production also serves as a "local alternative," Munk said.

From Barron's ● Sep. 26, 2026

Those signals direct the immune cells away from cancer cells and toward the fibrous bands, where the T cells become trapped.

From Science Daily ● Jun. 25, 2026

They’re structurally dense, meaning they contain more glandular and fibrous tissue than fat.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 4, 2026

The characterization of dense breasts refers to how much fat, glandular tissue, and fibrous tissue are in the mix.

From Slate ● Feb. 4, 2026

“Estha Mon!” he would call out, in his high, piping voice, frayed and fibrous now, like sugarcane stripped of its bark.

From "The God of Small Things" by Arundhati Roy

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