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Definition of prolific - 4 dictionary results

pro⋅lif⋅ic

  [pruh-lif-ik]
Use prolific in a Sentence
–adjective
1. producing offspring, young, fruit, etc., abundantly; highly fruitful: a prolific pear tree.
2. producing in large quantities or with great frequency; highly productive: a prolific writer.
3. profusely productive or fruitful (often fol. by in or of): a bequest prolific of litigations.
4. characterized by abundant production: a prolific year for tomatoes.
Origin:
1640–50; < ML prōlificus fertile. See prolicide, -fic

Related forms:
pro⋅lif⋅i⋅ca⋅cy  [pruh-lif-i-kuh-see] , pro⋅li⋅fic⋅i⋅ty  [proh-luh-fis-i-tee] , pro⋅lif⋅ic⋅ness, noun
pro⋅lif⋅i⋅cal⋅ly, adverb

Synonyms:
1, 2. teeming, fecund, abundant. See productive.

Antonyms:
1. barren.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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pro·lif·ic   (prə-lĭf'ĭk)   
adj.  
  1. Producing offspring or fruit in great abundance; fertile.
  2. Producing abundant works or results: a prolific artist. See Synonyms at fertile.

[French prolifique, from Medieval Latin prōlificus : Latin prōlēs, prōl-, offspring; see al-2 in Indo-European roots + Latin -ficus, -fic.]
pro·lif'i·ca·cy (-ĭ-kə-sē), pro·lif'ic·ness (-ĭk-nĭs) n., pro·lif'i·cal·ly adv.
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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Prolific

Pro*lif"ic\, a. [F. prolifique, fr. L. proles offspring (from pro for, forward + the root of alere to nourish) + facere to make. See Adult, Old, and Fact.]

1. Having the quality of generating; producing young or fruit; generative; fruitful; productive; -- applied to plants producing fruit, animals producing young, etc.; -- usually with the implied idea of frequent or numerous production; as, a prolific tree, female, and the like.

2. Serving to produce; fruitful of results; active; as, a prolific brain; a controversy prolific of evil.

3. (Bot.) Proliferous.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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prolific 
1650, from Fr. prolifique, from M.L. prolificus, from L. proles "offspring" + root of facere "to make" (see factitious). L. proles is from PIE *pro-al-, from *pro- "forth" + *al- "to grow, nourish."
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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