Meaning & use
social fabric
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Meaning
nounsingularfigurative
The network of relationships, shared values and institutions that hold a community or society together.
Grammar: Used with the: the social fabric of a town.
Patterns
- the social fabric of a place
- tear the social fabric
- strengthen the social fabric
Crime and distrust can damage the social fabric of a neighborhood.
Local clubs and schools help strengthen the social fabric.
The war tore at the social fabric of the country.
Common combinations
- the social fabric of society
- Rapid change can strain the social fabric of society.
- weaken the social fabric
- Mistrust weakens the social fabric.
- tear the social fabric
- Violence can tear the social fabric of a community.
- strengthen the social fabric
- Volunteer work helps strengthen the social fabric.
- part of the social fabric
- The market is part of the social fabric of the town.
Synonyms and how they differ
- community spirit
- Describes a friendly feeling among neighbors, while social fabric covers all the structures that bind people.
- social cohesion
- A more technical term for how well a group sticks together.
- society
- Refers to the people themselves, not to the bonds between them.
Opposites
Word family
Commonly confused: social fabric or social media?
social fabric vs social media
Social media means online platforms, while social fabric is the web of relationships in a society.
Practice
Rising distrust between neighbors can weaken the ___ of a town.
Choose one answer.
Social fabric means the bonds that hold a community together, which distrust can weaken. A tax system or weather pattern is not a bond between people.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “social fabric”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.