fruitful - Definitions from Dictionary.com

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

fruit·ful

Audio Help [froot-fuh

l] Pronunciation Key

–adjective

1.	producing good results; beneficial; profitable: fruitful investigations.

2.	abounding in fruit, as trees or other plants; bearing fruit abundantly.

3.	producing an abundant growth, as of fruit: fruitful soil; fruitful rain.

[Origin: 1250–1300; ME; see fruit, -ful

]

—Related forms

fruit·ful·ly, adverb

fruit·ful·ness, noun

—Synonyms 1, 3. See productive.

—Antonyms 1. barren.

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.

Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
fruitful

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American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

fruit·ful Audio Help (frōōt'fəl) Pronunciation Key
adj.

1. Producing fruit.
2. 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.

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The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

WordNet - Cite This Source - Share This

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

Kernerman English Multilingual Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
ˈfruitful adjective

producing (good) results
Example: a fruitful meeting

Arabic:	مُثْمِر
Chinese (Simplified):	富有成效的
Chinese (Traditional):	富有成效的
Czech:	plodný, úspěšný
Danish:	frugtbar
Dutch:	vruchtbaar
Estonian:	viljakas
Finnish:	hedelmällinen
French:	fructueux
German:	ergiebig
Greek:	καρποφόρος
Hungarian:	gyümölcsöző
Icelandic:	árangursríkur
Indonesian:	berhasil
Italian:	fruttuoso

Japanese:	実のある
Korean:	성과가 있는
Latvian:	auglīgs; rezultatīvs
Lithuanian:	vaisingas
Norwegian:	fruktbar, resultatrik
Polish:	owocny
Portuguese (Brazil):	frutífero
Portuguese (Portugal):	proveitoso
Romanian:	fructuos
Russian:	плодотворный
Slovak:	plodný
Slovenian:	ploden
Spanish:	fructífero, provechoso
Swedish:	fruktbar, givande
Turkish:	verimli

See also: fruitless, fruity, fruit, fruition, "fruitful" in any language

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.

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