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Definition of fertile adjective from the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary

fertile

adjective
 
/ˈfɜːtaɪl/
 
/ˈfɜːrtl/
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  1. (of land or soil) that plants grow well in
    • a fertile region/valley
    opposite infertileTopics Geographyc1, Farmingc1
    Oxford Collocations Dictionaryverbs
    • be
    • look
    • become
    adverb
    • extremely
    • fairly
    • very
    See full entry
  2. (of people, animals or plants) that can produce babies, young animals, fruit or new plants
    • The treatment has been tested on healthy fertile women under the age of 35.
    • women who proved particularly fertile
    opposite infertileTopics Biologyc1
    Oxford Collocations Dictionaryverbs
    • be
    • look
    • become
    adverb
    • extremely
    • fairly
    • very
    See full entry
  3. [usually before noun] that produces good results; that encourages activity
    • a fertile partnership
    • The region at the time was fertile ground for revolutionary movements (= there were the necessary conditions for them to develop easily).
    • a fertile source of argument/dispute
    • The fall of the old regime provided fertile ground for opportunism.
  4. [usually before noun] (of a person’s mind or imagination) that produces a lot of new ideas
    • the product of a fertile imagination
    • the product of a fertile brain/mind
  5. compare sterile
    Word Originlate Middle English: via French from Latin fertilis, from ferre ‘to bear’.
See fertile in the Oxford Advanced American DictionarySee fertile in the Oxford Learner's Dictionary of Academic English
perspective
noun
 
 
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