proliferous

[pruh-lif-er-uhs]

adjective

1. proliferating.

2. Botany.

   1. producing new individuals by budding or the like.

   2. producing an organ or shoot from an organ that is itself normally the last, as a shoot or a new flower from the midst of a flower.

proliferous

/ prəˈlɪfərəs /

adjective

1. (of plants) producing many side branches or offshoots and normally reproducing vegetatively by buds or by plantlets produced in the inflorescence

2. (of certain animals) reproducing by means of buds, etc

Other Word Forms

• nonproliferous adjective
• unproliferous adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of proliferous¹

1645–55; < Medieval Latin prōlifer bearing offspring + -ous. See prolicide, -ferous

Word History and Origins

Origin of proliferous¹

C17: from Medieval Latin prōlifer having offspring

Example Sentences

But the pathologies are deeper and more proliferous than a set of clueless white leaders, and it’s hard to imagine how the corporate structures of nonprofit theater can be salvaged.

From Los Angeles Times

It doesn’t help that Atlanta is home to what’s arguably the most proliferous and electrifying music scene in America right now, having recently nurtured the brash and idiosyncratic rappers Lil Yachty, Lil Baby, Migos, and Future, among others.

From The New Yorker

We’ve all known how good Cranston is from his work on “Breaking Bad,” the cable drama that set a standard this new proliferous streaming era has had difficulty matching.

From Los Angeles Times

Thallus dichotomous, proliferous, the early divisions linear-oblong, the margins ascending and remotely sinuate, the later divisions linear-palmatifid, coarsely nerved; cells large, hexagonal; involucre ciliate-fringed or lacerate; calyptra smooth, included.—Wet limestones and shales.

From Project Gutenberg

Culms filiform, 5–12´ high; upper sheath rarely distinctly leaf-bearing; spikelets 1–7 in a sessile or sometimes geminately proliferous cluster, ovate-oblong becoming cylindrical, greenish; scales ovate, strongly keeled, mucronate-pointed; stamens 2 or 3; style 2-cleft; bristles none; achene obovate-orbicular, mucronate, plano-convex, strongly wrinkled transversely.—Wet shores, Ill. to Tex.; also found in E. Mass.

From Project Gutenberg