fibre

«fibre» in Mova's school dictionary: a very thin thread, like those that make up wool, cotton… — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 5 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

part of speech

noun (fibre / fiber, uncountable as food; a fibre, fibres = threads)

meaning for a pupil

1) A fibre is a very thin thread, like those that make up wool, cotton, string, hair or paper. tree →

2) Fibre is the part of plant foods, like vegetables, fruit, beans and wholemeal bread, that your body does not digest but needs to keep your gut healthy. tree →

3) Fibre can mean a material made of threads, like glass fibre. tree →

4) Your moral fibre is your inner strength and goodness. tree →

5) Fibres are thin threads of tissue that make up your muscles and other parts of your body. tree →

sense in the lessons

In science and health lessons: eat plenty of fibre for good digestion; whole grains, fruit, vegetables and beans are high in fibre. In materials lessons: natural fibres (wool, cotton, silk) and man-made fibres (nylon, polyester). In technology: fibre-optic cables carry internet signals as light. Phrases: «high in fibre», «natural fibres», «fibre optic», «every fibre of my being» (with all my heart).

examples

• Brown bread has more fibre than white bread. tree →
• Eat fruit and vegetables for fibre. tree →
• Wool is made of animal fibres. tree →
• The rope was made of thick plant fibres. tree →
• Fibre-optic cables carry the internet as light. tree →
• Under the microscope, we saw the fibres of the paper. tree →
• Cotton is a natural fibre. tree →
• Beans are full of fibre. tree →
• A sickness was racking in every one of my bones, a languor and weariness creeping through my every fibre and muscle. tree →

note

Spelling: «fibre» (UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, Canada) and «fiber» (US); both are correct. As food it is uncountable («some fibre»); threads are countable («two fibres»). Fibre in food is not digested, but it is still important.

In the corpora

• The large intestine soaks up water and salts from what is left, and its bacteria break down some of the fibre.
• The tailorbird pokes holes in leaves and pulls plant fibres or spider silk through them to sew a leaf cup round its nest.
• When you cut yourself, platelets and stringy fibres make a net that plugs the cut and hardens into a scab.
• White flour is made from the inside of the grain, while wholemeal flour uses the whole grain, so it has more fibre.
• A dye is a coloured substance whose molecules stick to fibres; berry stains are dyes from the fruit.

Trees and pragmatics

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