Fabric definition

Pronunciation key (fab′rik)

fab•ric n. [Etymology: Middle French. fabrique; L. fabrica, from Latin fabrica; workshop, structure.]

1. A woven, felted, or knitted material, as cloth, felt, hosiery, or lace; also the material used in its making. Any knitted, woven or felted cloth.

Sentence example: "Challis is most often seen in fabrics made of cotton, wool, or rayon."

2. A material that resembles cloth.
3. Structure or framework

Sentence example: "The fabric of society".

4. Something that has been fabricated, constructed, or put together; any complex construction. Anything made of parts put together; structure; building; framework.

Sentence example: "The Fabric of the Cosmos: Space, Time, and the Texture of Reality (2004) is the second book on theoretical physics, cosmology, and string theory."

5. An edifice: St. Paul's, that noble fabric.
6. The manner of construction; workmanship; texture: cloth of a very intricate fabric. The style or plan of construction; texture.
7. Geol. The texture or structure of igneous rock.

Sentence example: "The pattern found in a rock, the fabric provides some of the most useful clues to the nature and sequence of magmatic crystallization."

8. a workshop, trade, product of a trade. < faber, a workman artisan, cf FORGE

References

Webster's New World Dictionary of the American Language (College Edition), ©1955

Funk and Wagnall's Standard Dictionary, Comprehensive International Edition, ©1976

Merriam-Webster Dictionary & Thesaurus, ©2004

Britannica, Igneous Rock