The Fabric of Society Is a Building Metaphor
Fabric is cloth, and also the underlying structure of something. The Latin root is a workshop, not a loom.
Fabric is woven cloth, and also the underlying framework of a building or a society. The second sense is the older one: Latin *fabrica* meant a workshop or something constructed, from *faber*, a craftsman. That is why surveyors speak of a church's fabric meaning its stonework, and why the fabric of society is a structural metaphor rather than a textile one.
- Cloth. *A metre of fabric.*
- The structure of a building. *Repairs to the fabric.*
- The underlying structure of society. *The social fabric.*
Word forms
| Form | Word | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Noun | fabric | Woven fabric. |
| Plural | fabrics | Printed fabrics. |
| Verb | fabricate | Fabricate the parts. |
| Noun | fabrication | A complete fabrication. |
| Related | forge | A blacksmith's forge. |
How it is used in a sentence
- The fabric of the roof needs repair.Building structure.
- It tore the social fabric.Society's structure.
- The story was a fabrication.Something constructed, and therefore false.
Words from *faber*, a craftsman
- Fabric — something constructed
- Fabricate — to construct, or to invent falsely
- Forge — through French, a smith's workshop
- Fabrication — a construction, or a lie
- Fabulous — unrelated, from *fabula*, a story
From French *fabrique*, from Latin *fabrica*, a workshop, from *faber*, a worker in hard materials. The cloth sense is a later narrowing.
Why does fabricate mean to lie?
Because it means to construct. A fabricated story is one that has been built rather than found.
Fabric or textile?
Textile is the broader technical term for any woven or knitted material. Fabric is the everyday word for cloth.