whole cloth

Definition of whole cloth

: pure fabrication —usually used in the phrase out of whole cloththe theory was created out of whole cloth

Examples of whole cloth in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web Stelter shows that in many ways Fox & Friends created Trump, the politician, out of whole cloth. — Bruce Bartlett, The New Republic, "Fox News Shares the Blame for Trump’s Deranged, Ruinous Presidency," 7 Sep. 2020 Perry Mason, the first season of which is clearly modeled after a superhero origin story, invents an elaborate backstory out of whole cloth for the character, and grounds it, naturally, in trauma. — Sophie Gilbert, The Atlantic, "The Conundrum of a New Perry Mason," 25 June 2020 As bars and restaurants in Michigan begin reopening dining rooms, many operators are going beyond the pivot to carryout and reinventing themselves out of whole cloth to adapt to diners' reset whims. — Mark Kurlyandchik, Detroit Free Press, "Super high-end Birmingham restaurant Pernoi rebrands as casual Italian joint," 12 June 2020 Europeans aren't inventing these measures out of whole cloth. — Bernhard Warner, Fortune, "Out of work, but not unemployed: how much Europe is paying its idled workers," 23 Apr. 2020 But Trump’s defense team blasted the Democrats’ accusations as whole cloth. — Tom Benning, Dallas News, "Watch live: Cruz, Cornyn, other senators get first chance to ask questions during Trump impeachment trial," 29 Jan. 2020 Climate is the whole cloth woven together by individual threads of daily weather. — National Geographic, "Weather shows evidence of climate change every single day since 2012," 16 Jan. 2020 That doesn't mean Hissrich created everything from whole cloth. — Ani Bundel, Ars Technica, "The Witcher’s Netflix success: How three timelines somehow became cohesive," 11 Jan. 2020 Trump's belief that four embassies were threatened appears to have been conjured out of whole cloth. — Joel Mathis, TheWeek, "The Pentagon is Trump's worst enabler," 13 Jan. 2020

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'whole cloth.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

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Last Updated

16 Sep 2020

Cite this Entry

“Whole cloth.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/whole%20cloth. Accessed 1 Oct. 2020.

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