productivity

[proh-duhk-tiv-i-tee, prod-uhk‑]

noun

1. the quality, state, or fact of being able to generate, create, enhance, or bring forth goods and services.

   The productivity of the group's effort surprised everyone.

2. Economics.,  the rate at which goods and services having exchange value are brought forth or produced.

   Productivity increased dramatically last year.

3. Grammar.,  the ability to form new words using established patterns and discrete linguistic elements, as the derivational affixes -ness and -ity,

productivity

/ ˌprɒdʌkˈtɪvɪtɪ /

noun

1. the output of an industrial concern in relation to the materials, labour, etc, it employs

2. the state of being productive

productivity

1. In business, a measure of worker efficiency, such as one hundred units per hour. In economics, involvement in the creation of goods and services to produce wealth.

Other Word Forms

• antiproductivity adjective
• nonproductivity noun
• semiproductivity noun
• unproductivity noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of productivity¹

First recorded in 1800–10; productiv(e) ( def. ) + -ity ( def. )

Example Sentences

Per-worker productivity at his facility has soared, with individual workers producing as much as four times as many pieces per day as they could before.

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Rogers said Canadian companies and policymakers have been complacent about underlying structural problems with the domestic economy, notably moribund productivity and weak business investment.

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Gemini’s chief competitor, ChatGPT, also offers an enterprise product, but its capabilities are focused more on enhancing employee productivity than automating entire business processes.

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OTTAWA—The Bank of Canada’s No. 2 official endorsed a competition shakeup in the highly concentrated financial-services industry, saying the country’s banking sector is an oligopoly and changes could help lift Canada’s prolonged productivity slump.

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More famously, Henry Ford established the assembly line, revolutionizing worker productivity and enabling higher wages through the Five Dollar Day.

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Related Words

• capacity 
• fertility 
• production 
• yield