the world > existence and causation > creation > productiveness > unproductiveness > be unproductive [verb (intransitive)] (2)
To remain unworked, unused, untouched, or undiscovered. Often with complement, as to lie barren, hid, waste (see also fallow, adj.2, lea, adj.)…
to thresh (over) straw and variants: to work at something that is unproductive or unprofitable; to revisit or spend more time on something that…