fructify

American  

[fruhk-tuh-fahy, frook-, frook-] / ˈfrʌk təˌfaɪ, ˈfrʊk-, ˈfruk- /

verb (used without object)

fructified, fructifying

1. to bear fruit; become fruitful.

   With careful tending the plant will fructify.

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verb (used with object)

fructified, fructifying

1. to make fruitful or productive; fertilize.

   warm spring rains fructifying the earth.

fructify British  

/ ˈfrʊk-, ˈfrʌktɪˌfaɪ /

verb

1. to bear or cause to bear fruit

2. to make or become productive or fruitful

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Other Word Forms

• fructifier noun
• superfructified adjective
• unfructified adjective

Etymology

Origin of fructify

First recorded in 1275–1325; Middle English fructifien, from Old French fructifier, from Latin frūctificāre; fructi-, -fy

Example Sentences

“Money,” Cowperthwaite said, should be left “to fructify in the pockets of taxpayers”.

From Economist • Oct. 5, 2017

“We’re just starting to see that interest in the sport beginning to fructify now … this fight is bankable,” Nelson said.

From Los Angeles Times • May 3, 2017

There was the old Gladstonian expression, 'Let the money fructify in the pockets of the people.'

From Time Magazine Archive

It will be interesting to see the many wonders which will fructify from the works of these two modern "brothers" in Christ.

From Time Magazine Archive

A man like this bites the buds of all powerful truths, experiences, and fictions, as ants bite the buds from corn-seeds, that they may not fructify, but wither and die and form building materials.

From The Campaner Thal and Other Writings by Jean Paul