fertile
[fur-tl or, esp. British, -tahyl]
- bearing, producing, or capable of producing vegetation, crops, etc., abundantly; prolific: fertile soil.
- bearing or capable of bearing offspring.
- abundantly productive: a fertile imagination.
- producing an abundance (usually followed by of or in): a land fertile of wheat.
- conducive to productiveness: fertile showers.
- Biology.
- fertilized, as an egg or ovum; fecundated.
- capable of growth or development, as seeds or eggs.
- Botany.
- capable of producing sexual reproductive structures.
- capable of causing fertilization, as an anther with fully developed pollen.
- having spore-bearing organs, as a frond.
- Physics. (of a nuclide) capable of being transmuted into a fissile nuclide by irradiation with neutrons: Uranium 238 and thorium 232 are fertile nuclides.Compare fissile(def 2).
- produced in abundance.
Show More
Origin of fertile
Synonyms
See more synonyms for fertile on Thesaurus.com1–3. fecund, teeming. See productive.
Antonyms
1–3. sterile, barren.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for fertile
Contemporary Examples
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.
The ground was fertile, with alluvial, or unconsolidated, soil.
Ester Elchies, The Estate Built By WhiskeyDecember 10, 2014
Some parts were arid, nearly barren, others green and fertile.
Not even the most fertile imagination could have conjured a better monster-in-the-dark than IS.
Of course the Internet, where the cat is king, has proved a fertile breeding ground for these ventures.
Historical Examples
That his land may be fertile and he himself abide in security.
The Babylonian Legends of the CreationBritish Museum
Even the fertile vale, in the hollow of which it lay, had ceased to have existence.
The Miraculous PitcherNathaniel Hawthorne
Well, I will lead you into the most fertile plains in the world.
The Boy Life of NapoleonEugenie Foa
From this we gather that his mind was fertile in expedients.
Heroes of the TelegraphJ. Munro
The coast, and especially the southern extremity, are fertile.
fertile
- capable of producing offspring
- (of land) having nutrients capable of sustaining an abundant growth of plants
- (of farm animals) capable of breeding stock
- biology
- capable of undergoing growth and developmentfertile seeds; fertile eggs
- (of plants) capable of producing gametes, spores, seeds, or fruits
- producing many offspring; prolific
- highly productive; rich; abundanta fertile brain
- physics (of a substance) able to be transformed into fissile or fissionable material, esp in a nuclear reactor
- conducive to productivenessfertile rain
Show More
Word Origin
C15: from Latin fertilis, from ferre to bear
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
Word Origin and History for fertile
adj.
mid-15c., from Middle French fertil and directly from Latin fertilis "bearing in abundance, fruitful, productive," from ferre "to bear" (see infer). Fertile Crescent (1914) was coined by U.S. archaeologist James H. Breasted (1865-1935).
Show More
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
fertile
(fûr′tl)- Capable of conceiving and bearing young.
- Fertilized. Used of an ovum.
Show More
The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
fertile
[fûr′tl]
- Capable of producing offspring, seeds, or fruit.
- Capable of developing into a complete organism; fertilized.
- Capable of supporting plant life; favorable to the growth of crops and plants.
Show More
The American Heritage® Science Dictionary
Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.