DictionaryAI

fabric

FAB-rik/ˈfæb.ɹɪk/

Pluralfabrics

Verbfabrics, fabricking, fabricked

11 meanings of fabric

Practice

  1. 1
    nouncountable or uncountable
    Cloth or material made from threads, used for clothes, curtains, and other things.

    She bought two yards of soft fabric to make a dress.

    Tents are made from a strong fabric that keeps out the rain.

    Similarcloth, textile, material

  2. 2
    nounusually singular
    How a cloth feels and looks, such as smooth, rough, thick, or thin.

    This silk has a smooth, fine fabric that feels cool on the skin.

    The old blanket has a loose, open fabric, so light shows through it.

    Similartexture, weave

  3. 3
    nounfigurativelyusually singular
    The basic structure that holds something together, such as a community or a way of life.

    Like the threads in a blanket: pull out too many and the whole thing falls apart.

    Trust is part of the fabric of any strong friendship.

    The long war tore at the fabric of daily life in the town.

    Similarframework, structure, foundation, makeup

    Note
  4. 4
    noununcountable
    The walls, roof, and other solid parts that a building is made of.

    Rain leaking through the roof can damage the fabric of an old house.

    Workers checked the fabric of the church before starting the repairs.

    Similarstructure

    Note
  5. 5
    nouncountable
    A network of connected machines or parts that work together like threads in a cloth.

    Like a piece of cloth where every thread crosses many others, so everything stays connected.

    Engineers added new machines to the fabric without turning anything off.

    Every computer in the building connects to the others through one fast fabric.

    Similarnetwork, mesh

    Note
  6. 6
    nouncountable or uncountable
    The baked clay that a pot or other old object is made from.

    The bowl's reddish fabric shows it was made from local clay.

    Museum experts studied the fabric of the broken jar to learn its age.

    Similarclay, paste

    Note
  7. 7
    nouncountable or uncountable
    The pattern that the small grains inside a rock make.

    Like the pattern of grains in a piece of wood.

    Under a magnifying glass, the rock's fabric shows tiny grains all lined up the same way.

    Heat and pressure deep underground gave this stone its striped fabric.

    Note
  8. 8
    verbtransitive
    To put a layer of cloth over something to cover it.

    We will fabric the old chair so it looks new again.

    Workers fabric the panels before fitting them into the van.

    Similarupholster, cover

    Note

Less common meanings

  1. 9
    nounarchaicusually singular
    The way something is made and how its parts fit together.

    The old scientist praised the fine fabric of the bee's wing.

    He studied the clock's inner fabric, every wheel fitted to its neighbor.

    Note
  2. 10
    nounarchaiccountable
    A building, especially a large and grand one such as a church or palace.

    Travelers stopped on the road to admire the ancient fabric on the hill.

    Anon out of the earth a fabric huge / Rose like an exhalation.
    1667, John Milton, Paradise LostHere, fabric means a large, grand building.
    Note
  3. 11
    nounarchaicuncountable
    The work of building or making something, such as a house or a ship.

    The fabric of the new bridge took the workers three summers.

    Money for the fabric of the chapel came from the whole village.

    Note

Practice

Can you tell the meanings of fabric apart? Answer 3 quick questions from this page, or write your own sentence and AI will check it.

Origin

It came from French fabrique, which came from Latin fabrica, meaning a workshop or something made by skill. This came from faber, meaning a workman.