adjective

fab

adjective

Wonderful; excellent; fantastic.

"They had a fab time at the beach."

"That's a fab idea for the party."

noun

A factory that manufactures semiconductor chips.

"The company is building a new chip fab in Arizona."

How to Use Fab

Learner’s notes

In plain EnglishAn informal British slang word meaning great or fantastic; in the tech and manufacturing world, "fab" is also shorthand for a chip-fabrication plant.

When to use it

The "wonderful" sense is casual British slang, associated with 1960s pop culture (the Beatles were sometimes called "the Fab Four").

Common pairings

fab idea chip fab absolutely fab

Word Forms

fabber comparative, fabbed past tense, fabs plural, Fabs plural, fabs singular, fabbest superlative

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They had a _____ time at the beach.

Etymology

Short for "fabulous"; the chip-factory sense is a separate, unrelated shortening of "fabrication."