fertile

(fûrˈtl)

1. Biology
   a. Capable of initiating, sustaining, or supporting reproduction.
   b. Capable of growing and developing; able to mature: a fertile egg.
2. Botany Bearing functional reproductive structures such as seeds or fruit or material such as spores or pollen.
3. Bearing or producing crops or vegetation abundantly; fruitful.
4. Rich in material needed to sustain plant growth: fertile soil.
5. Highly or continuously productive; prolific: a fertile imagination; a fertile source of new ideas.
6. Physics Capable of producing fissionable material: fertile thorium 232.

Related Forms:

• ferˈtile·ly adverb

• ferˈtile·ness noun