fertile [fur -tl or, esp. British
Synonyms Examples Word Origin
See more synonyms for fertile on Thesaurus.com 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 1425–75; late Middle English (<
Middle French ) <
Latin fertilis fruitful, akin to
ferre to
bear1 ; see
-ile Related forms 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 Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Related Words for fertile productive ,
lush ,
fruitful ,
rich ,
abundant ,
arable ,
bearing ,
black ,
bountiful ,
breeding ,
fecund ,
flowering ,
luxuriant ,
plentiful ,
pregnant ,
producing ,
prolific ,
rank ,
teeming ,
virile Examples from the Web for fertile Contemporary Examples of fertile 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.
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 of fertile That his land may be fertile and he himself abide in security.
Even the fertile vale, in the hollow of which it lay, had ceased to have existence.
Well, I will lead you into the most fertile plains in the world.
From this we gather that his mind was fertile in expedients.
The coast, and especially the southern extremity, are fertile .
British Dictionary definitions for 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 development fertile seeds ; fertile eggs (of plants) capable of producing gametes, spores, seeds, or fruits producing many offspring; prolific highly productive; rich; abundant a fertile brain physics (of a substance) able to be transformed into fissile or fissionable material, esp in a nuclear reactor conducive to productiveness fertile rain Show More
Derived Forms fertilely , adverb fertileness , noun Word Origin for fertile C15: from Latin fertilis , from ferre to bear
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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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).
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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.
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
Related forms fertility noun The American Heritage® Science Dictionary
Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
