1
: producing young or fruit especially freely : fruitful2
archaic : causing abundant growth, generation, or reproduction3
: marked by abundant inventiveness or productivityChoose the Right Synonym for prolific
fertile, fecund, fruitful, prolific mean producing or capable of producing offspring or fruit.
fertile implies the power to reproduce in kind or to assist in reproduction and growth
; applied figuratively, it suggests readiness of invention and development.
fecund emphasizes abundance or rapidity in bearing fruit or offspring.
fruitful adds to fertile and fecund the implication of desirable or useful results.
prolific stresses rapidity of spreading or multiplying by or as if by natural reproduction.
Examples of prolific in a Sentence Since [David] Mamet is a prolific writer of Hollywood screenplays, there are today more people who know his work than know that they know it. —Juliet Fleming, Times Literary Supplement, 18 Feb. 2000 The main rival to his pneumonia was the prolific thrush which went into his throat and stomach. —Irvine Welsh, Trainspotting, 1993 A writer as established and prolific as Joyce Carol Oates can approach her material in a wealth of ways unavailable to the more plodding. —Jane Smiley, New York Times Book Review, 5 May 1991 Here there are La restaurants, wine bars, bookshops, estate agents more prolific than doctors, and attractive people in black, few of them aging. —Hanif Kureishi, Granta 22, Autumn 1987 a famously prolific author who could produce several works of fiction and nonfiction a year Recent Examples on the Web 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. Written by prolific children’s author Millicent E. Selsam, the book chronicles the process of animal identification, showing children how ordinary places can be sites of scientific observation. —Jessica George, JSTOR Daily, 25 June 2025 However, the prolific public commentator is one of China's best-know propagandists and his posts credibly capture part of the mood in the country. —John Feng, MSNBC Newsweek, 24 June 2025 The film represents the kind of high-concept genre fare that has made M Studio one of Thailand’s most prolific production houses. —Naman Ramachandran, Variety, 23 June 2025 The prolific production banner run by Peter Chernin in 2020 signed a first-look deal for film with Netflix, and earlier called Fox home. —Etan Vlessing, HollywoodReporter, 23 June 2025 See All Example Sentences for prolific Word HistoryEtymology
French prolifique, from Middle French, from Latin proles + Middle French -figue -fic
First Known Use
1650, in the meaning defined at sense 1
Time Traveler
The first known use of prolific was in 1650 Cite this Entry“Prolific.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/prolific. Accessed 8 Jul. 2025.
Last Updated: 28 Jun 2025 - Updated example sentencesLove words? Need even more definitions?
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