fabric

«fabric» in Mova's school dictionary: cloth, material made by weaving or knitting threads, used… — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 2 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

part of speech

noun (a fabric, fabrics; fabric — uncountable)

meaning for a pupil

1) Fabric is cloth, material made by weaving or knitting threads, used for clothes, curtains and bags. tree →

2) The fabric of a building is its walls, floors and roof. tree →

3) The fabric of society or life means the basic structure that holds it together. tree →

sense in the lessons

In design and technology lessons pupils choose fabrics such as cotton, wool, felt or nylon for projects, testing which is waterproof, stretchy or warm. In science we test materials for properties. In everyday life labels show what fabric clothes are made of and how to wash them. Phrases: «a piece of fabric», «cotton fabric», «waterproof fabric», «fabric softener».

examples

• We cut the fabric to make puppets. tree →
• This fabric is soft and stretchy. tree →
• Which fabric is the most waterproof? tree →
• Cotton is a natural fabric; nylon is man-made. tree →
• Mum bought fabric for new curtains. tree →
• The label shows the fabric and washing instructions. tree →
• The old church's fabric needs repairs. tree →
• Kindness is part of the fabric of our school. tree →
• Then a feast of the most delicate dishes was served in a room hung with embroidered Indian fabrics. tree →

note

Countable when meaning types (different fabrics), uncountable for the material (some fabric). False friend: in many languages «fabrica/Fabrik» means «factory» — in English, a factory is not a fabric.

In the corpora

• Fabric scissors are kept only for cloth, because cutting paper or card makes the blades blunt.
• Light bulbs get hot, so lamps and nightlights are kept away from curtains and other fabric.

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «fabric» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.