productivity

noun pro·duc·tiv·i·ty \ ˌprō-dək-ˈti-və-tē , ˌprä- , prə-ˌdək- \

|Updated on: 3 Aug 2018

Examples: productivity in a Sentence

Definition of productivity

1 : the quality or state of being productive

2 : the rate per unit area or per unit volume at which biomass consumable as food by other organisms is made by producers

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Examples of productivity in a Sentence

The country has low agricultural productivity.
The company is looking for ways to improve worker productivity.
There has been an increase in productivity.

Recent Examples of productivity from the Web

Simple changes to incentives—letting farmers profit from the sale of their own crops, for example—led to a surge of agricultural productivity.

— The Economist, "Is North Korea the next Vietnam? Don’t count on it," 12 July 2018
Factories, the chief innovation of the industrial revolution, are cathedrals of productivity, built to shelter specialized processes and encourage the division of labor.

— jason pontin, WIRED, "3D Printing Is the Future of Factories (for Real This Time)," 11 July 2018
Employees who have friends at work report higher levels of productivity and job satisfaction than those who don’t.

— New York Times, "How to Separate Harmless Work Chatter From Gossip," 15 June 2018
In addition, the meritocracy in such fields might not forgive the lack of productivity or morale that can result when a person becomes the victim of harassment.

— katie reilly, Time, "Report Calls for Widespread Change to Combat Sexual Harassment in Academia," 14 June 2018
Apple has tried to convince consumers that the iPad is for work, but relatively flat iPad sales suggest few are using mobile devices as their primary means of productivity.

— christopher mims, WSJ, "Apple’s Next Laptops Could Be More iPhone Than Mac," 14 June 2018
This is the sort of judicial quicksand that traps many young men into lives of non-productivity.

— phillip morris, cleveland.com, "Kanye West has a thing or two to learn about American slavery: Phillip Morris," 9 May 2018
Betting on Jason Witten to sustain the necessary level of productivity?

— mac engel, star-telegram, "Cowboys need to get ready for life after Jason Witten | Fort Worth Star-Telegram," 24 Apr. 2018
Some of that productivity — or lack thereof — was injury-induced.

— sam mcdowell, kansascity, "Chiefs cornerback David Amerson on his expected role: ‘Playmaker’ | The Kansas City Star," 19 Mar. 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'productivity.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

First Known Use of productivity

1808

in the meaning defined at sense 1

See Words from the same year

NEW! Time Traveler

Other Ecology Terms

Malthusian, anthropogenic, biomass, carbon footprint, crepuscular, niche, sere, symbiosis, taiga, tundra

Financial Definition of PRODUCTIVITY

productivity

noun

What It Is

Productivity refers to the measure of output (e.g. products) from a production process per unit of input (e.g. labor and capital).

How It Works

Productivity is usually expressed as a ratio of output to inputs. It can be expressed as units of a product (e.g. cars) per worker-hour (total number of hours worked by all workers on that car). Given the cost of the worker-hour, productivity can also measure the efficiency of a company.

These measures are quantitative and relatively easy to measure. However, other factors of productivity, such as creativity, innovation, teamwork, and even quality are qualitative and more difficult to measure

Why It Matters

In most business models, profitability is a function of productivity, price, and volume. In other words, a company's success is measured by how efficiently it uses its resources to produce its product, the price it can sell its products, and how many products it can actually sell. When comparing companies within a sector, for example, it is very important for investors to understand the relative productivity comparisons between companies producing the same products.

Source: Investing Answers