fertile

[ fur-tlor, especially British, -tahyl ]

adjective

1. bearing, producing, or capable of producing vegetation, crops, etc., abundantly; prolific:

   fertile soil.

   Synonyms: teeming, fecund

   Antonyms: barren, sterile

2. bearing or capable of bearing offspring.

   Synonyms: teeming, fecund

   Antonyms: barren, sterile

3. abundantly productive:

   a fertile imagination.

   Synonyms: teeming, fecund

   Antonyms: barren, sterile

4. producing an abundance (usually followed by of or in ):

   a land fertile of wheat.

5. conducive to productiveness:

   fertile showers.

6. Biology.
   1. fertilized, as an egg or ovum; fecundated.
   2. capable of growth or development, as seeds or eggs.
7. Botany.
   1. capable of producing sexual reproductive structures.
   2. capable of causing fertilization, as an anther with fully developed pollen.
   3. having spore-bearing organs, as a frond.
8. Physics. (of a nuclide) capable of being transmuted into a fissile nuclide by irradiation with neutrons: Compare fissile ( def 2 ).

   Uranium 238 and thorium 232 are fertile nuclides.

9. produced in abundance.

fertile

/ ˈfɜːtaɪl /

adjective

1. capable of producing offspring
2. 1. (of land) having nutrients capable of sustaining an abundant growth of plants
   2. (of farm animals) capable of breeding stock
3. biology
   1. capable of undergoing growth and development

      fertile eggs

      fertile seeds

   2. (of plants) capable of producing gametes, spores, seeds, or fruits
4. producing many offspring; prolific
5. highly productive; rich; abundant

   a fertile brain

6. physics (of a substance) able to be transformed into fissile or fissionable material, esp in a nuclear reactor
7. conducive to productiveness

   fertile rain

fertile

/ fûr′tl /

1. Capable of producing offspring, seeds, or fruit.
2. Capable of developing into a complete organism; fertilized.
3. Capable of supporting plant life; favorable to the growth of crops and plants.

Derived Forms

• ˈfertileness, noun
• ˈfertilely, adverb

Other Words From

• fertile·ly adverb
• fertile·ness noun
• half-fertile adjective
• half-fertile·ly adverb
• half-fertile·ness noun
• non·fertile adjective
• over·fertile adjective
• pre·fertile adjective
• un·fertile adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of fertile¹

First recorded in 1425–75; late Middle English (from Middle French ), from Latin fertilis “fruitful,” akin to ferre “to bear”; bear ¹, -ile

Word History and Origins

Origin of fertile¹

C15: from Latin fertilis , from ferre to bear

Synonym Study

See productive.

Example Sentences

By this time, post-transactional activity was very fertile ground for Google.

From Search Engine Land

What they have hit is the world’s most theoretically fertile dead end.

From Singularity Hub 

The app will show them the dates for your past, current, and predicted periods, fertile windows, and PMS.

From Outside Online

With 600,000 infections, South Africa has become a fertile testing ground for vaccines.

From Fortune

SpaceX’s fundraising comes during a fertile period, both for the Tesla sister company and capital markets more broadly.

From Fortune

The Eighty-ninth Congress was potentially more fertile ground for the broad range of controversial programs on his dream agenda.

From The Daily Beast

At present, not every woman is young enough, fertile enough, or healthy enough to have a baby using her own eggs or her own womb.

From The Daily Beast

The ground was fertile, with alluvial, or unconsolidated, soil.

From The Daily Beast

Some parts were arid, nearly barren, others green and fertile.

From The Daily Beast

Not even the most fertile imagination could have conjured a better monster-in-the-dark than IS.

From The Daily Beast

On certain of the stems the fertile cone appears and the spores are ripened about June, after which the process withers.

From Project Gutenberg

San Antonio de Bexar lies in a fertile and well-irrigated valley, stretching westward from the river Salado.

From Project Gutenberg

The habitations of the poor are less wretched than those of Italy, but not equal to those of the fertile portion of Switzerland.

From Project Gutenberg

For most of the way the country is flat and fertile, and in good part devoted to Grazing, though considerable Wheat is grown.

From Project Gutenberg

It is not quite so level nor so perfectly cultivated as central Belgium, but is generally fertile and promises fairly.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• abundant
• arable
• fruitful
• lush
• productive
• rich