fruitful

adjective

fruit·​ful ˈfrüt-fəl How to pronounce fruitful (audio)
1
a
: yielding or producing fruit
fruitful soil
b
: conducive to an abundant yield
fruitful rain
2
: abundantly productive
a fruitful discussion
a fruitful career
fruitfully adverb
fruitfulness noun
Choose the Right Synonym for fruitful

fertile, fecund, fruitful, prolific mean producing or capable of producing offspring or fruit.

fertile implies the power to reproduce in kind or to assist in reproduction and growth

fertile soil

; applied figuratively, it suggests readiness of invention and development.

a fertile imagination

fecund emphasizes abundance or rapidity in bearing fruit or offspring.

a fecund herd

fruitful adds to fertile and fecund the implication of desirable or useful results.

fruitful research

prolific stresses rapidity of spreading or multiplying by or as if by natural reproduction.

a prolific writer

Examples of fruitful in a Sentence

We had a fruitful discussion about the problems with the schedule. a very fruitful tree that gives us plenty of apples every year
Recent Examples on the Web The day’s search hadn’t been fruitful, yielding only scaffolding poles, Penny tells Live Science’s Sascha Pare. Sonja Anderson, Smithsonian Magazine, 13 Mar. 2024 But a full-court trap and foul game wasn’t fruitful enough. Danny Emerman, The Mercury News, 10 Mar. 2024 The projects are a culmination of one of the most fruitful partnerships in modern hip hop and comes after the two had teased a full collaborative LP multiple times in the past year. Ethan Millman, Rolling Stone, 8 Mar. 2024 Doing so might be fruitful in further illuminating what happens when using those large references. Lance Eliot, Forbes, 2 Mar. 2024 Earlier attempts to make Fridays more fruitful were aimed at easing dress codes — Casual Fridays — or giving a couple hours off for a few months — Summer Fridays. Charlotte Hampton, Fortune, 16 Feb. 2024 Neither team got off to a particularly fruitful start. Sam Cohn, Baltimore Sun, 15 Feb. 2024 For beer companies, in particular, sports are a fruitful market. George Ramsay, CNN, 31 Jan. 2024 For some American conductors, pursuing a career in Europe has proved more fruitful than staying at home. Javier C. Hernández, New York Times, 6 Mar. 2024

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'fruitful.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Etymology

Middle English fruitful, fruiteful, frutefull, from fruit, frute fruit entry 1 + -ful, -full -ful entry 1

First Known Use

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Time Traveler
The first known use of fruitful was in the 14th century

Dictionary Entries Near fruitful

Cite this Entry

“Fruitful.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/fruitful. Accessed 29 Mar. 2024.

Kids Definition

fruitful

adjective
fruit·​ful ˈfrüt-fəl How to pronounce fruitful (audio)
1
: yielding or producing fruit
2
a
: very productive
a fruitful soil
b
: bringing results
a fruitful idea
fruitfully adverb
fruitfulness noun

More from Merriam-Webster on fruitful

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
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