PRODUCTIVITY

Pronunciation (US):

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does productivity mean? 

• PRODUCTIVITY (noun)
  The noun PRODUCTIVITY has 2 senses:

1. the quality of being productive or having the power to produce

2. (economics) the ratio of the quantity and quality of units produced to the labor per unit of time

  Familiarity information: PRODUCTIVITY used as a noun is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• PRODUCTIVITY (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The quality of being productive or having the power to produce

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Synonyms:

productiveness; productivity

Hypernyms ("productivity" is a kind of...):

fecundity; fruitfulness (the quality of something that causes or assists healthy growth)

Derivation:

productive (yielding positive results)

Sense 2

Meaning:

(economics) the ratio of the quantity and quality of units produced to the labor per unit of time

Classified under:

Nouns denoting relations between people or things or ideas

Hypernyms ("productivity" is a kind of...):

ratio (the relative magnitudes of two quantities (usually expressed as a quotient))

Domain category:

economic science; economics; political economy (the branch of social science that deals with the production and distribution and consumption of goods and services and their management)

 Context examples 

At first, populations were slow to respond, probably because of low productivity.

(Scientists chart a baby boom in southwestern Native Americans from 500 to 1300 A.D., NSF)

A mineral compound has been developed to produce a fertilizer which increases agricultural productivity at reduced environmental impact.

(New Brazilian fertilizer can boost productivity, Agência BRASIL)

We’ve been measuring ‘carbon’ in freshwater as a proxy for everything from water quality to the productivity of freshwater ecosystems.

(Climate change could double greenhouse gas emissions from freshwater ecosystems, University of Cambridge)

The Sun in your sign will strengthen your sense of purpose and authority, making it easier for you to rally the troops and increase productivity.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

Its productivity can be 10-100 times greater than that of raw materials from traditional agricultural crops.

(Brazilian researchers identify microalgae that can provide biofuels, Agência Brasil)

The region's chemistry changes periodically, especially its levels of phosphorous and iron, ultimately affecting its biological productivity.

(North Pacific Ocean fertilized by iron in Asian dust, National Science Foundation)

"The variability of the arrangement of the leaf area in the canopy can be important in terms of forest productivity as well as resilience to different types of disturbances and stressors."

(Structural complexity in forests improves carbon capture, National Science Foundation)

In contrast to mania, these symptoms do not cause significant impairment of the individual's productivity at work, or social and family relationships.

(Hypomania, NCI Thesaurus)

"Controls on ocean productivity are more complicated than light and nutrients alone," says Mike Sieracki, a program director in NSF’s Division of Ocean Sciences.

(Algae-killing viruses spur nutrient recycling in oceans, National Science Foundation)

Understanding large-scale patterns helps us understand ocean productivity in the entire Atlantic basin, said William Balch, a scientist at the Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences and the paper's lead author.

(Study reveals changing patterns in globally important algae, National Science Foundation)