fabric
/ˈfæb.ɹɪk/ noun, verb
Forms fabrics fabricking fabricked fabrick
- noun (now rare) An edifice or building.
- noun (archaic) The act of constructing, construction, fabrication.
- noun (archaic) The structure of anything, the manner in which the parts of a thing are united; workmanship, texture, make. “cloth of a beautiful fabric”
- noun The physical material of a building. “This church dates back to the 11th century, though the great majority of its fabric is fifteenth century or later.”
- noun (figurative) The framework underlying a structure. “the fabric of our lives”
- noun A material made of fibers; especially, a woven one. “cotton fabric”
- noun The texture of a cloth.
- noun (petrology) The appearance of crystalline grains in a rock.
- verb (transitive) To cover with fabric.
Synonyms
Etymology
Borrowed from French fabrique, from Latin fabrica (“a workshop, art, trade, product of art, structure, fabric”), from faber (“artisan, workman”). Doublet of fabrica, borrowed from Latin, and forge, borrowed from Old French.
Webster’s 1913
- noun The structure of anything; the manner in which the parts of a thing are united; workmanship; texture; make; as cloth of a beautiful fabric.
- noun That which is fabricated; as : (a) Framework; structure; edifice; building.
- verb To frame; to built; to construct. [Obs.] "Fabric their mansions." J. Philips.
Etymology [L. fabrica fabric, workshop: cf. F. fabrique fabric. See Forge.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “fabric”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details