FERTILE

Pronunciation (US):

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IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does fertile mean? 

• FERTILE (adjective)
  The adjective FERTILE has 4 senses:

1. capable of reproducing

2. intellectually productive

3. bearing in abundance especially offspring

4. marked by great fruitfulness

  Familiarity information: FERTILE used as an adjective is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• FERTILE (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Capable of reproducing

Similar:

conceptive; impregnable (capable of conceiving)

fecund (capable of producing offspring or vegetation)

fertilizable (capable of being fertilized)

rank (very fertile; producing profuse growth)

Also:

fruitful (productive or conducive to producing in abundance)

potent; stiff; strong (having a strong physiological or chemical effect)

productive (producing or capable of producing (especially abundantly))

Attribute:

fecundity; fertility (the state of being fertile; capable of producing offspring)

Antonym:

sterile (incapable of reproducing)

Derivation:

fertility (the state of being fertile; capable of producing offspring)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Intellectually productive

Synonyms:

fecund; fertile; prolific

Context example:

a fecund imagination

Similar:

productive (producing or capable of producing (especially abundantly))

Sense 3

Meaning:

Bearing in abundance especially offspring

Synonyms:

fertile; prolific

Context example:

a prolific pear tree

Similar:

fruitful (productive or conducive to producing in abundance)

Derivation:

fertility (the state of being fertile; capable of producing offspring)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Marked by great fruitfulness

Synonyms:

fat; fertile; productive; rich

Context example:

rich soil

Similar:

fruitful (productive or conducive to producing in abundance)

Derivation:

fertility (the property of producing abundantly and sustaining vigorous and luxuriant growth)

 Context examples 

Earth and water present a very fertile combination.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

Interbreeding between the two different species of finches produced fertile offspring of a new species.

(Researchers report rapid formation of new bird species in Galápagos islands, Wikinews)

A characteristic complaint in a fertile woman that is indicative of a pregnancy.

(Early Pregnancy Symptom, NCI Thesaurus)

The banks of the Thames presented a new scene; they were flat but fertile, and almost every town was marked by the remembrance of some story.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

It was a pleasant fertile spot, well wooded, and rich in pasture.

(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)

The southern border of the Sahara adjoins the Sahel, the semi-arid transition zone that lies between the Sahara and fertile savannas farther south.

(New study finds world’s largest desert, the Sahara, has grown by 10 percent since 1920, National Science Foundation)

He has occasional employment on the same newspaper, in getting up the facts of dry subjects, to be written about and embellished by more fertile minds.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

According to the scientist, turning barren land into fertile farmland will enable China to feed the entire country.

(Saltwater Rice Successfully Harvested by Chinese Scientists, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

A coded value specifying one of the basic units of biological classification and taxonomic rank that specifies a group of organisms that share similar characteristics and can interbreed with one another to produce fertile offspring.

(Animal Species Code, NCI Thesaurus)

A Taurus moon is considered very fertile.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)