productive
Americanadjective
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having the power of producing; generative; creative.
a productive effort.
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producing readily or abundantly; fertile.
a productive vineyard.
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causing; bringing about (usually followed byof ).
conditions productive of crime and sin.
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Economics. producing or tending to produce goods and services having exchange value.
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Grammar. (of derivational affixes or patterns) readily used in forming new words, as the suffix -ness.
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(in language learning) of or relating to the language skills of speaking and writing (receptive ).
adjective
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producing or having the power to produce; fertile
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yielding favourable or effective results
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economics
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producing or capable of producing goods and services that have monetary or exchange value
productive assets
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of or relating to such production
the productive processes of an industry
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resulting in
productive of good results
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denoting an affix or combining form used to produce new words
Related Words
Productive, fertile, fruitful, prolific apply to the generative aspect of something. Productive refers to a generative source of continuing activity: productive soil; a productive influence. Fertile applies to that in which seeds, literal or figurative, take root: fertile soil; a fertile imagination. Fruitful refers to that which has already produced and is capable of further production: fruitful soil, discovery, theory. Prolific means highly productive: a prolific farm, writer.
Other Word Forms
- antiproductive adjective
- antiproductively adverb
- productively adverb
- productiveness noun
- productivity noun
- semiproductive adjective
- semiproductively adverb
- unproductive adjective
- unproductively adverb
- unproductiveness noun
Etymology
Origin of productive
First recorded in 1605–15; from the Medieval Latin word productīvus; product, -ive
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.
The cautious and methodical Congressional Budget Office has increasingly focused on how regulatory processes, especially permitting requirements, affect the pace and cost of building infrastructure and expanding productive capacity.
From Barron's
While it lasted, the Carrillo-Núñez partnership was the most productive in the history of Mexican skating.
From Los Angeles Times
Millions of people across the world are now regularly talking to their devices, an interaction that has become more productive—and less annoying—thanks to AI.
Grisham, now 70 years old, still finds the morning hours his most productive.
Mr. Newman cites a series of studies showing that people dramatically underestimate how productive continued searching will be.
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.
