prolific

adjective pro·lif·ic \prə-ˈli-fik\

: producing a large amount of something

Full Definition of PROLIFIC

: producing young or fruit especially freely : fruitful

archaic : causing abundant growth, generation, or reproduction

: marked by abundant inventiveness or productivity <a prolific composer>

— pro·lif·i·ca·cy \-ˈli-fi-kə-sē\ noun

— pro·lif·i·cal·ly \-fi-k(ə-)lē\ adverb

— pro·lif·ic·ness \-fik-nəs\ noun

See prolific defined for English-language learners

See prolific defined for kids

Examples of PROLIFIC

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
[+]more [-]hide

Origin of PROLIFIC

French prolifique, from Middle French, from Latin proles + Middle French -figue -fic

First Known Use: 1650

Related to PROLIFIC

Synonyms: cornucopian, fat, fecund, fructuous, fruitful, lush, luxuriant, productive, fertile, rich

Antonyms: barren, dead, infertile, sterile, unfertile, unfruitful, unproductive

Synonym Discussion of 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 <fertile soil>; applied figuratively, it suggests readiness of invention and development <a fertile imagination>. fecund emphasizes abundance or rapidity in bearing fruit or offspring <a fecund herd>. fruitful adds to fertile and fecund the implication of desirable or useful results <fruitful research>. prolific stresses rapidity of spreading or multiplying by or as if by natural reproduction <a prolific writer>.