Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This

American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

fruit·ful       (frōōt'fəl)  Pronunciation Key  adj.   Producing fruit. Conducive to productivity; causing to bear in abundance: fruitful soil. Producing something in abundance; prolific: a fruitful author of fiction. Producing results; profitable. See Synonyms at fertile. fruit'ful·ly adv., fruit'ful·ness n.

WordNet - Cite This Source - Share This

fruitful

adjective

productive or conducive to producing in abundance; "be fruitful and multiply" [ant: unfruitful]

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Fruitful

Fer"tile\ (? or ?; 277), a. [L. fertilis, fr. ferr? to bear, produce: cf. F. fertile. See Bear to support.]

1. Producing fruit or vegetation in abundance; fruitful; able to produce abundantly; prolific; fecund; productive; rich; inventive; as, fertile land or fields; a fertile mind or imagination.

Though he in a fertile climate dwell. --Shak.

2. (Bot.) (a) Capable of producing fruit; fruit-bearing; as, fertile flowers. (b) Containing pollen; -- said of anthers.

3. produced in abundance; plenteous; ample.

Henceforth, my early care . . . Shall tend thee, and the fertile burden ease Of thy full branches. --Milton.

Syn: Fertile, Fruitful.

Usage: Fertile implies the inherent power of production; fruitful, the act. The prairies of the West are fertile by nature, and are turned by cultivation into fruitful fields. The same distinction prevails when these words are used figuratively. A man of fertile genius has by nature great readiness of invention; one whose mind is fruitful has resources of thought and a readiness of application which enable him to think and act effectively.