fruitful
English Edit
Alternative forms Edit
- fruitfull (archaic)
Etymology Edit
From Middle English fruitefull, equivalent to fruit + -ful. Compare Dutch vruchtvol, German fruchtvoll, Swedish fruktfull.
Pronunciation Edit
Adjective Edit
fruitful (comparative more fruitful, superlative most fruitful)
- Favourable to the growth of fruit or useful vegetation; not barren.
- Synonym: fertile
- Antonyms: barren, infertile, unfruitful
- 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Genesis 1:22:
- And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth.
- Being productive in any sense; yielding benefits.
- Synonyms: see Thesaurus:productive
- Antonym: unfruitful
- The extra work in the office turned out to be fruitful after all—I got promoted
Synonyms Edit
- fruitious (obsolete)
Related terms Edit
Translations Edit
favorable to the growth
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productive, yielding benefits
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References Edit
- “fruitful”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
- “fruitful”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.