Prolific
Producing a large amount of something; highly productive or fertile, often referring to people who create many works or results.
adjectiveProlific
Producing a large amount of something; highly productive or fertile, often referring to people who create many works or results.
adjectiveImagine This
Imagine a tireless author at a desk, drafting page after page, or a busy beehive buzzing with hundreds of blossoms and jars of honey filling one after another. Prolific means producing a lot of output without running dry.
Sounds Like
pruh-LIF-ik
Looks Like
productive, fertile — both sharing the sense of high output
Remember This
Prolific describes quantity of output, not necessarily quality. It is often applied to writers, artists, scientists, or any creator who produces a lot. Its noun forms are prolificness or prolificacy.
Other Forms
Connect With
productive, fruitful, fertile, copious, abundant, output, creativity
Note
Do not confuse with profitable (relating to making money). Prolific emphasizes production, not value. The word can describe plants as well (a prolific plant).
Study Deeper
- The author is incredibly prolific, releasing multiple novels in a single year.
- Her prolific research career led to dozens of groundbreaking papers.
From Latin prolificus 'bearing offspring', from proles 'offspring' + -ficus 'making'.
PRO-LIFE-IC: Think of something that 'makes life' by producing a lot of output; prolific means producing a lot.
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Distended
adjectiveStretch out or become larger or wider, often due to internal pressure or inflation; also used to describe swelling.
Counterproductive
adjectiveHaving the opposite of the desired effect; actions or policies that hinder rather than help progress.
Impose
verbTo force a rule, tax, burden, or other obligation to be accepted or put in place by authority; to burden someone with something unwelcome.
Similar Words
Related words and words with the same part of speech.
Copious
adjectivePlentiful; existing in large quantities.
Abstruse
adjectiveDifficult to understand; obscure or highly complex.
Accidental
adjectiveHappening by chance or without deliberate planning; not intended. In music, it is also a noun for a symbol that temporarily alters a pitch.
Acerbic
adjectiveSharp or biting in tone or taste; caustic or mordant in manner.
Acquiescent
adjectiveReady to agree or approve without protest; compliant.
Adamant
adjectiveRigid in opinion or purpose; not willing to change one's mind or position.