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adj. 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. [Middle English fertil, from Old French fertile, from Latin fertilis, from ferre, to bear; see bher-1 in the Appendix of Indo-European roots.] fertile·ly adv. fertile·ness n. Synonyms: fertile, fecund, fruitful, productive, prolific These adjectives mean marked by great productivity: a fertile imagination; a fecund theory; fruitful efforts; a productive period; a prolific career. |
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