Definition of fecundnext

Synonym Chooser

How is the word fecund distinct from other similar adjectives?

Some common synonyms of fecund are fertile, fruitful, and prolific. While all these words mean "producing or capable of producing offspring or fruit," fecund emphasizes abundance or rapidity in bearing fruit or offspring.

a fecund herd

When is it sensible to use fertile instead of fecund?

The synonyms fertile and fecund are sometimes interchangeable, but fertile implies the power to reproduce in kind or to assist in reproduction and growth; applied figuratively, it suggests readiness of invention and development.

fertile soil
a fertile imagination

How does the word fruitful relate to other synonyms for fecund?

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

fruitful research

When would prolific be a good substitute for fecund?

The words prolific and fecund can be used in similar contexts, but prolific stresses rapidity of spreading or multiplying by or as if by natural reproduction.

a prolific writer

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of fecund Though this arrangement is a complicated one, the sharing and licensing of rights has allowed Bond to emerge as a lucrative and fecund product line. Colin Burnett, The Conversation, 7 Mar. 2025 From the fecund mind of the Coen brothers, this modern-day Western was hailed as a classic nearly from the moment of its independent release. Mike Barnes, The Hollywood Reporter, 17 Dec. 2024 Others omit her altogether, capturing the natural realm unblemished by human presence, a fecund environment dotted with snakes and birds and fungi. Ana Karina Zatarain, The New Yorker, 24 Feb. 2024 Granting all perturbation and backsliding, generous lives had been lived on that fecund soil, and a generous spirit inhered in it. Marilynne Robinson, The New York Review of Books, 12 Oct. 2023 See All Example Sentences for fecund
Recent Examples of Synonyms for fecund
Adjective
  • Seasonal ingredients powering the mercifully compact tasting menu are sourced from local farmers or foraged from the volcano’s fertile slopes (grapes, saffron, mushrooms).
    Rosalyn Wikeley, Condé Nast Traveler, 12 Jan. 2026
  • Farming ran deep in Dee’s family, who had worked the fertile land of southeastern Michigan since 1831, raising dairy cattle and growing wheat, corn and soy.
    Christine Pelisek, PEOPLE, 10 Jan. 2026
Adjective
  • Neither player is a prolific shot-maker from long range, but Green’s dwindling speed advantage is further lessened when he is guarded by power forwards rather than centers on dribble handoffs.
    Joseph Dycus, Mercury News, 7 Jan. 2026
  • Rob Reiner was a prolific director whose work included some of the most memorable and endlessly watchable movies of the 1980s and ’90s.
    Andrew Dalton, Chicago Tribune, 7 Jan. 2026

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Cite this Entry

“Fecund.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/fecund. Accessed 31 Jan. 2026.

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