fabric
n. C / Un. cloth or material used to make things like clothes, curtains, or blankets. It can also mean the basic structure that holds a society or system together.
n. a flexible material made by weaving, knitting, or felting fibres. In a figurative sense, it refers to the essential structure or framework of a complex system or society.
This soft fabric is perfect for making a summer dress.
The designer chose a heavy wool fabric to ensure the winter coats would be both warm and durable.
The sudden economic crisis threatened to tear the social fabric of the small community, which had relied on the local factory for generations.
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.
Countable when referring to specific types of material; uncountable when referring to the general concept of cloth or structural framework.