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fertile

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fer⋅tile

  [fur-tl or, especially Brit., -tahyl]
Use fertile in a Sentence
–adjective
1. bearing, producing, or capable of producing vegetation, crops, etc., abundantly; prolific: fertile soil.
2. bearing or capable of bearing offspring.
3. abundantly productive: a fertile imagination.
4. producing an abundance (usually fol. by of or in): a land fertile of wheat.
5. conducive to productiveness: fertile showers.
6. Biology.
a. fertilized, as an egg or ovum; fecundated.
b. capable of growth or development, as seeds or eggs.
7. Botany.
a. capable of producing sexual reproductive structures.
b. capable of causing fertilization, as an anther with fully developed pollen.
c. having spore-bearing organs, as a frond.
8. Physics. (of a nuclide) capable of being transmuted into a fissile nuclide by irradiation with neutrons: Uranium 238 and thorium 232 are fertile nuclides. Compare fissile (def. 2).
9. produced in abundance.
Origin:
1425–75; late ME (< MF) < L fertilis fruitful, akin to ferre to bear 1 ; see -ile

Related forms:
fer⋅tile⋅ly, adverb
fer⋅tile⋅ness, noun

Synonyms:
1–3. fecund, teeming. See productive.

Antonyms:
1–3. sterile, barren.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To fertile
Infertility and Pregnancy
Acupuncture treatments: fertility conception, and pregnancy symptoms
www.YinOvaCenter.com
Fertility Specialists MDs
Go to Fertility Specialty Doctors. IVF, IUI, Egg Donor Recipient, more
RmaCT.com/Medical_Fertility_Center
fer·tile   (fûr'tl)   
adj.  

  1. Biology

    1. Capable of initiating, sustaining, or supporting reproduction.

    2. Capable of growing and developing; able to mature: a fertile egg.

  2. Botany Bearing functional reproductive structures such as seeds or fruit or material such as spores or pollen.

  3. Bearing or producing crops or vegetation abundantly; fruitful.

  4. Rich in material needed to sustain plant growth: fertile soil.

  5. Highly or continuously productive; prolific: a fertile imagination; a fertile source of new ideas.

  6. Physics Capable of producing fissionable material: fertile thorium 232.


[Middle English fertil, from Old French fertile, from Latin fertilis, from ferre, to bear; see bher-1 in Indo-European roots.]
fer'tile·ly adv., fer'tile·ness n.
Synonyms: These adjectives mean marked by great productivity: fertile farmland; a fecund imagination; fruitful efforts; a productive meeting; a prolific writer.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

fertile 
1436, from L. fertilis "bearing in abundance, fruitful, productive," from ferre "to bear" (see infer). Fertilize is 1648; its biological sense of "unite with an egg cell" is first recorded 1859. Fertile Crescent (1914) was coined by U.S. archaeologist James H. Breasted (1865-1935). Fertilizer as a euphemism for "manure" is from 1846.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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Medical Dictionary

Main Entry: fer·tile
Pronunciation: 'f&rt-&l, chiefly Brit 'f&r-"tIl
Function: adjective
1 : capable of growingor developing <fertile egg>
2 : developing spores or spore-bearing organs
3 a : capable of breeding or reproducing b of an estrouscycle : marked by the production of one or more viable eggs
Merriam-Webster's Medical Dictionary, © 2002 Merriam-Webster, Inc.
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Medical Dictionary

fertile fer·tile (fûr'tl)
adj.

  1. Capable of conceiving and bearing young.

  2. Fertilized. Used of an ovum.

The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
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