fabric
nounverbcommon in dialogue
- //ˈfæb.ɹɪk//
The physical material of a building.
noun
- 1
archaicAn edifice or building.
Anon out of the earth a fabric huge / Rose like an exhalation.
They withdrew from the gate, as if to depart, but he presently thought he heard them amongst the trees on the other side of the fabric, and soon became convinced that they had not left the abbey.
- 2
archaicThe act of constructing, construction, fabrication.
Tithe was received by the bishop […] for the fabric of the churches for the poor.
- 3
archaicThe structure of anything, the manner in which the parts of a thing are united; workmanship, texture, make.
cloth of a beautiful fabric
- 4
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.
- 5
figurativeThe framework underlying a structure.
the fabric of our lives
Only with the second actor, can plot, […] the reaction of man on man, be knit into the very fabric of dramatic art.
I thought the best match of sympathy with reality was in Fritz Matthies' Pauline's Birthday or the Beast of Notre Dame. It was a surprise, not just because of its ending, but because there was a real fabric in the characters' relationships. In this, it outweighs The Deputy and all its high drama.
- 6
A material made of fibers; especially, a woven one.
Near-synonym: cloth (not always differentiated)
cotton fabric
- 7
The texture of a cloth.
- 8
The appearance of crystalline grains in a rock.
- 9
The fired clay material of pottery artifacts.
- 10
Interconnected nodes that look like a textile fabric when diagrammed.
The Internet is a fabric of computers connected by routers.
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.
verb
- 1
To cover with fabric.
Fabricking and Carpeting a Room. If your ballroom's walls are in need of a paint job, or the space feels cavernous, or your tent is just looking too bare, you can have the ceiling and walls draped with fabric to create an intimate enclave.
Forms
- plural
- fabrics
- past tense
- fabricked
- past participle
- fabricked
- present participle
- fabricking
- third person singular
- fabrics
fabric · The physical material of a building.
fabulous · Of or relating to fable, myth or legend.facade · The face of a building, especially the front view or…face · The front part of the head of a human or other animal,…