productive

[ pruh-duhk-tiv ]
See synonyms for productive on Thesaurus.com
adjective
  1. having the power of producing; generative; creative: a productive effort.

  2. producing readily or abundantly; fertile: a productive vineyard.

  1. causing; bringing about (usually followed by of): conditions productive of crime and sin.

  2. Economics. producing or tending to produce goods and services having exchange value.

  3. Grammar. (of derivational affixes or patterns) readily used in forming new words, as the suffix -ness.

  4. (in language learning) of or relating to the language skills of speaking and writing (opposed to receptive).

Origin of productive

1
First recorded in 1605–15; from the Medieval Latin word productīvus; see origin at product, -ive

synonym study For productive

2. Productive, fertile, fruitful, prolific apply to the generative aspect of something. Productive refers to a generative source of continuing activity: productive soil; a productive influence. Fertile applies to that in which seeds, literal or figurative, take root: fertile soil; a fertile imagination. Fruitful refers to that which has already produced and is capable of further production: fruitful soil, discovery, theory. Prolific means highly productive: a prolific farm, writer.

Other words for productive

Opposites for productive

Other words from productive

  • pro·duc·tive·ly, adverb
  • pro·duc·tive·ness, noun
  • pro·duc·tiv·i·ty [proh-duhk-tiv-i-tee], /ˌproʊ dʌkˈtɪv ɪ ti/, noun
  • an·ti·pro·duc·tive, adjective
  • an·ti·pro·duc·tive·ly, adverb
  • sem·i·pro·duc·tive, adjective
  • sem·i·pro·duc·tive·ly, adverb
  • un·pro·duc·tive, adjective
  • un·pro·duc·tive·ly, adverb
  • un·pro·duc·tive·ness, noun

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

British Dictionary definitions for productive

productive

/ (prəˈdʌktɪv) /


adjective
  1. producing or having the power to produce; fertile

  2. yielding favourable or effective results

  1. economics

    • producing or capable of producing goods and services that have monetary or exchange value: productive assets

    • of or relating to such production: the productive processes of an industry

  2. (postpositive foll by of) resulting in: productive of good results

  3. denoting an affix or combining form used to produce new words

Derived forms of productive

  • productively, adverb
  • productiveness, noun

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012