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 For Biden, keeping the attention focused on Trump may provide a fruitful path toward recovery. David Lauter, Los Angeles Times, 17 Nov. 2023 People used cheese to divine all sorts of things: who committed a crime, whether the year would bring a fruitful harvest, and how a child’s life would turn out. Jennifer Billock, Saveur, 16 Nov. 2023 And as the weather conditions continue to provide fruitful wine yields, the industry looks poised to flourish. Prarthana Prakash, Fortune Europe, 12 Nov. 2023 Each of the three members has his own fruitful side project: Klebanoff works primarily in harsh noise and drone; Power leads the mathy, melodic rock project Daydream Plus; and Vella started the duo Dream Unending, whose emotionally intense epics captured a softer side of his songwriting. Sam Sodomsky, Pitchfork, 9 Nov. 2023 Sanders’ recent posts are about overcoming emotional exhaustion and fruitful living. Amara Amaryah, Essence, 8 Nov. 2023 Story continues below advertisement Efforts to detoxify AI image tools have focused on a few seemingly fruitful interventions: filtering data sets, finessing the final stages of development, and encoding rules to address issues that earned the company bad PR. Szu Yu Chen, Washington Post, 1 Nov. 2023 The partnership has been fruitful not only because of the box office success, but also professionally, as Dauberman moved from behind the typewriter to behind the camera, making his directorial debut with Annabelle Comes Home. Borys Kit, The Hollywood Reporter, 16 Oct. 2023 He’s had a long and fruitful collaboration with jazz musicians, and has recorded songs popularized by Frank Sinatra and Tony Bennett. Graciela Mochkofsky, The New Yorker, 6 Oct. 2023 See More

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 2 Dec. 2023.

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
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!