fertile Hear it!

fertile Definition

fer·tile (fʉrt′'l; chiefly Brit & Cdn fʉr′tīl′)

adjective

  1. producing abundantly; rich in resources or invention; fruitful; prolific
  2. causing or helping fertility the sun's fertile warmth
  3. able to produce young, seeds, fruit, pollen, spores, etc.
  4. capable of development into a new individual; fertilized fertile eggs

Etymology: ME < OFr < L fertilis < stem of ferre, bear

fertile Related Forms

fer′·tilely adverb fer′·tile·ness noun

fertile Synonyms

fertile

modif.

  1. Said of land

    fruitful, rich, productive, fat, teeming, yielding, plenteous, prolific, black, arable, flowering, bearing, lush, flowing with milk and honey.

    Antonyms sterile*, barren*, desert. *

  2. Said of females

    fecund, prolific, generative, bearing, bringing forth, breeding, pregnant, gravid, with child.

    Antonyms sterile*, infertile*, barren. *

  3. Said of the mind, imagination, etc.

    inventive, resourceful, imaginative; see original 2.

fertile implies a producing, or the power of producing, fruit or offspring, and may be used figuratively of the mind; fecund implies the abundant production of offspring or fruit, or, figuratively, of creations of the mind; fruitful specifically suggests the bearing of much fruit, but it is also used to imply fertility (of soil or plants) or to that which produces favorable or profitable results, etc.; prolific, a close synonym for fecund, more often carries connotations of rapid production or reproduction and is often derogatory a prolific species, a prolific writer

fertile Usage Examples

Preposition: in

  • corn: It is very fertile in corn, of which they export some; and its coasts abound in fish.
  • suggestion: Stead looked after the rest of the paper, and was fertile in suggestions.

Adjective complement with noun phrase

  • keep: The pyramids had the purpose of keeping the land fertile by charging it with yang energy.
  • make: The Egyptian civilization grew up along the banks of the River Nile, where annual floods made the soil fertile.

Modifies a noun

  • soil: Sow seed in spring, grow in fertile soil in a sunny site.
  • valley: Long, long ago, there was a fertile valley where now roll the waters of Bala Lake.
  • crescent: Whatever the case may be, it resulted in the people being scattered throughout the fertile crescent.
  • farmland: There is a difference between laying a lawn for example on a stony hill with pine needles to fertile farmland.
  • humus: Outdoors, grow in light moderately fertile humus rich well drained soil, in full sun or partial shade.
  • loam: Soil appeared to be a fertile sandy loam from excavation for services.

Modifying Another Word

  • moderately: Cultivation Grow in poor to moderately fertile, very gritty, sharply drained soil in full sun.
  • tolerably: The lands are enclosed and in a high state of cultivation; and the soil is tolerably fertile.
  • extraordinarily: In his extraordinarily fertile mind, there were phenomena that simply could not be accounted for by the fixed rules of Newton.
  • remarkably: The soil of the district is remarkably fertile, except that of Moorhouse, which is mostly of a light gravelly nature.
  • perfectly: Buffon got four successive generations from the wolf and dog, and the mongrels were perfectly fertile together.
  • potentially: A few women with Turner syndrome have normal ovulatory menstrual cycles during a short time in their life and so are potentially fertile.

Used with adjective complement

  • remain: Louisiana remains fertile for the largest of the products.
  • become: Fewer cycles result in the release of an egg and so you become less fertile.
  • prove: Even if one is not seen, if the eggs are laid and prove fertile the presence of a male is proved!
  • seem: However the ground in this field of endeavor seems not entirely fertile at the moment.