Fabricate

Fabricate is a verb with several related senses. It most commonly means to make or construct something from raw materials or components by shaping, assembling, or welding. It can also refer to the process of producing a manufactured product in a factory or workshop, often described as fabrication. A third sense is to invent or contrive something, such as a story, claim, or piece of evidence, typically with the implication of deceit.

Origin and etymology: The word derives from Latin fabrica “workshop, craft,” through Old French fabriquer and Middle English usage. It entered English with the sense of constructing or forming objects and later extended to the sense of inventing something false.

Usage: In manufacturing, to fabricate metal, plastic, or composite parts means to cut, form, join, and finish them to specification. In discourse or journalism, to fabricate can mean to invent information or sources, which implies deception and may be unethical or illegal. The noun fabrication covers both the act of manufacturing and the product that results, as well as the act of devising a falsehood.

See also: fabrication, manufacturing, fraud, forgery.