adjective
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bearing fruit in abundance
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productive or prolific, esp in bearing offspring
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causing or assisting prolific growth
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producing results or profits
a fruitful discussion
Synonym Usage
See productive.
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of fruitful
Explanation
When something is fruitful, it's productive — but you don't have to produce fruit in order to be fruitful. You could have a fruitful trip to the mall if you come home with a slew of snappy new outfits. There's a famous line from the Bible: "Be fruitful and multiply." That gives you a pretty good sense of the word: fruitful activity multiplies or adds to what's already there, producing more of something. A couple is fruitful if they have children: the more children, the more fruitful. An artist is fruitful if they create a lot of artwork. A business is fruitful if it creates profits and expands. Anything fruitful is productive: it grows and produces, much like a fruit tree.
Vocabulary lists containing fruitful
Power Suffix: -ful
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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.
This has been a fruitful summer for King/Drew of the City Section.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 5, 2026
Regional markets enjoyed a fruitful first half of the year thanks to a surge in tech stocks, but ructions in the sector over the past few weeks have raised concerns that a bubble has formed.
From Barron's ● Jul. 1, 2026
Here was a bookish young woman who was told that she would not be enjoying the fruitful life that her sisters had, that her fate had already been decided.
From Salon ● Jun. 25, 2026
That's not to say the 80-year-old hasn't had a fruitful and fulfilling career.
From BBC ● Jun. 12, 2026
Still others, like Donald Cooksey, settled into long and fruitful careers as acolytes to the leader.
From "Big Science" by Michael Hiltzik
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.
