from whole cloth
1
9.1
- idiom
- Informal
:
totalmente inventado
- There are claims from some corners that Mr. Irving has concocted this book from whole cloth.
- create from whole cloth
Examples
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Two years ago, the SPLC fabricated from whole cloth a story about a racist-themed picnic and poetry contest I was supposedly hosting for my employees.
Blog text (33) -
Without attribution, it sounds as if it was made up from whole cloth.
Blog text (16) -
Pressed by the awesome business of creating a new government from whole cloth, the legislators put off debates on the matter.
Academic text (1991) -
The media/Democrat machine engineered the so-called "war on women" from whole cloth.
Blog text (21) -
The conspiracy theories spread about the politician were entirely created from whole cloth.
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Many critics argued that his accusations were fabricated from whole cloth without any evidence.
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The story they told about their encounter seemed to be made up from whole cloth and lacked credibility.
Synonyms
Made up and not true, often to trick people
Antonyms
How True
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'completely invented' cannot be straightforwardly derived from 'from' + 'whole' + 'cloth' because a literal interpretation suggests something made from an uncut piece of fabric, not an invented story. This is an idiomatic/metaphorical usage (historically textile-related) that is language-specific and unlikely to be obvious to a B1 learner who has not seen the expression before.
Etymology
From whole cloth comes from sewing: it refers to making a garment from one single piece of fabric, the whole cloth, not from patches. So when someone says a story was made from whole cloth, they mean it was completely 'invented' or 'made up' with no real basis.