fertile
Americanadjective
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bearing, producing, or capable of producing vegetation, crops, etc., abundantly; prolific.
fertile soil.
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bearing or capable of bearing offspring.
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abundantly productive.
a fertile imagination.
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producing an abundance (usually followed by of orin ).
a land fertile of wheat.
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conducive to productiveness.
fertile showers.
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Biology.
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fertilized, as an egg or ovum; fecundated.
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capable of growth or development, as seeds or eggs.
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Botany.
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capable of producing sexual reproductive structures.
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capable of causing fertilization, as an anther with fully developed pollen.
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having spore-bearing organs, as a frond.
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Physics. (of a nuclide) capable of being transmuted into a fissile nuclide by irradiation with neutrons.
Uranium 238 and thorium 232 are fertile nuclides.
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produced in abundance.
adjective
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capable of producing offspring
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(of land) having nutrients capable of sustaining an abundant growth of plants
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(of farm animals) capable of breeding stock
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biology
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capable of undergoing growth and development
fertile seeds
fertile eggs
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(of plants) capable of producing gametes, spores, seeds, or fruits
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producing many offspring; prolific
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highly productive; rich; abundant
a fertile brain
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physics (of a substance) able to be transformed into fissile or fissionable material, esp in a nuclear reactor
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conducive to productiveness
fertile rain
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Capable of producing offspring, seeds, or fruit.
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Capable of developing into a complete organism; fertilized.
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Capable of supporting plant life; favorable to the growth of crops and plants.
Synonym Usage
See productive.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Etymology
Origin of fertile
First recorded in 1425–75; late Middle English (from Middle French ), from Latin fertilis “fruitful,” akin to ferre “to bear”; see bear 1, -ile
Explanation
The word fertile means "able to reproduce," but like so many words, that's just the beginning. The fact that she gave birth to eight kids was proof that she was fertile; her fertile imagination explained their unusual names. The distance between fertile's literal meaning (able to make babies) and its figurative ones (productive, prolific, full of potential) is small. A child's mind is a fertile place; an idea can grow there very easily. Rabbits are famously fertile creatures; they can spawn several generations in a matter of months. And "fertile ground" can be arable land or a situation that provides the perfect opportunity. The Latin root, fertilis, means "bearing in abundance, fruitful, or productive," from ferre, "to bear."
Vocabulary lists containing fertile
Down on the Farm
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Word Generation Social Studies - Ancient Civilizations of Egypt, Greece, Rome
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Mesopotamia - Introductory
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
According to Nash, at the time of the cave art what is now the Bristol Channel was a "rich fertile plateau" between Gower and the north Devon coast.
From BBC • Jun. 1, 2026
Roger de Bree, managing director and fund manager at Tweedy, Browne, invests with an eye for bargains, and sees Japan as a fertile place to invest.
From Barron's • May 20, 2026
“As most fiction, it is a composite, an amalgam of personal experience, research and my fertile, overactive imagination,” Raicek said.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 16, 2026
Add to that Hurricane Melissa, which struck the island nation in October 2025, flooding fertile farmland and destroying crops.
From Salon • Apr. 11, 2026
They found new and fertile grounds for mirth at his expense one evening when a group of them noticed Joe eating a meal in the cafeteria.
From "The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics" by Daniel James Brown
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
