Making something up that is false or invented, or constructing and assembling something physical.
From Latin 'fabricare,' meaning to build or construct, from 'fabrica' (workshop, craft). The modern sense of lying emerged because people who construct things can also construct false stories—the metaphor merged.
Medieval blacksmiths 'fabricated' weapons in their smithies, but by the 1600s, people realized you could 'fabricate' lies with the same skill—both are acts of making something from scratch!
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