prolific

adjective

pro·​lif·​ic prə-ˈli-fik How to pronounce prolific (audio)
1
: producing young or fruit especially freely : fruitful
2
archaic : causing abundant growth, generation, or reproduction
3
: marked by abundant inventiveness or productivity
a prolific composer
prolificacy noun
prolifically adverb
prolificness noun
Choose 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

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

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.
Last year with hours left to live, Roberson's life was spared following a furious effort by a bipartisan group of Texas lawmakers − a development rarely seen in the nation's most prolific death penalty state. Amanda Lee Myers, USA Today, 18 July 2025 Exxon, a 45 percent owner and operator of the three-company consortium which has developed the prolific Stabroek Block and other areas offshore Guyana over the last decade, filed a challenge to the arrangement in March 2024. David Blackmon, Forbes.com, 18 July 2025 Griffin is also one of the country’s most prolific philanthropists, having donated more than $2 billion to education, science, medicine, and the arts. Abby Montanez, Robb Report, 18 July 2025 Only a property manager as recently as 2019, Spicer has quickly become the city’s most prolific ADU developer while building a company, SDRE, that now has more than 50 employees, with separate wings devoted to homebuilding, general contracting and design and engineering work. David Garrick, San Diego Union-Tribune, 18 July 2025 See All Example Sentences for prolific

Word History

Etymology

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

Browse Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Prolific.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/prolific. Accessed 25 Jul. 2025.

Kids Definition

prolific

adjective
pro·​lif·​ic prə-ˈlif-ik How to pronounce prolific (audio)
1
: producing young or fruit in large numbers
a prolific orchard
2
: highly inventive : productive
a prolific writer
prolifically adverb

More from Merriam-Webster on prolific

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